#how was i supposed to know that it is current to say a gaurd and prisoner??

[lazyneonrabbitt]

Beginning to learn

Adar x reader

Uruk and mortal learn things from one another in this. Suggestive themes.

Written with specifically season 1 Adar in mind.

You wandered the tunnels in search of Adar. There were matters to be discussed but it was like he avoided you.

He had been everywhere others told you to find him but by the time you got there all you were told was "Apologies, lady. Lord Father just left."

It took you almost hours to finally get to him and catch him off gaurd.

"Why do you avoid me?" There was a tone of annoyance to your voice and Adar visibly curled into himself at the directness of your words.

You and Adar were new to relationships, especially of mixed kinds. In the short weeks of knowing and being with each other Adar learned about mortal's routine bleeding. It had sent panic through his entire being as he found you in your chambers reeking of blood and in visible discomfort.

"I am confused as to why you believe I avoid you. The tunnels are close to completion and I am overwhelmed with overseeing it all." You could see he lied. His eyes had a tell. Yes, Adar was busy but it was not work that overwhelmed him.

It was your scent.

"Come take a break, then. If you are so overwhelmed. Calm your mind and eat with me, then you may go again." Even if he lied, it was still clear he was not entirely okay.

Taking a step towards him you caught his arms and pressed yourself against him to leave a kiss on his jaw.

"..Adar?" He was in trouble now, he felt the looming dark void in his mind grow. The voice that spat nothing but filth and hurt. You would be disgusted, how would you not be.

There was no denying you felt what you did with your body flush against his. With a quick glance down you took a step back to look him in the eyes.

"Are you ..aroused by me being near you? Is that why you ran?" You were confused. You and Adar had talked about communication and boundaries before, making sure both of you would voice your concerns.

"It is not that." The air of disgust was now visible to you as well, but it was unclear what is was directed towards. "I need to get used to smelling you in the air. Your current state is affecting me in ways I am sure you are uncomfortable with."

"My current.." You had no clue what he meant, but the idea of him believing you'd be uncomfortable with him being attracted to you was hurting your feelings more than him avoiding you.

"That's not a reason to avoid me. You are allowed to ask such things of me, I'm not afraid to lay with you if that is what you think." With a huff you crossed your arms and waited for a response, but he stayed quiet.

"Adar." You siged and looked at him. "I need you to speak. In clear terms, what is wrong here?"

"I can smell that you are.." You could see Adar search for his words. "Fertile.. Uruk noses are sensitive and I prefer to keep my distance as to not cause you any unease."

At his explaination heat rose to your cheeks. "You can smell that? What else do I need to know that you can just sniff out?"

While you were on one hand embarassed that your body was letting everyone know of something you had no control over, you were also curious to learn more about the uruks.

"There is also arousal, which I catch a slight hint of right now. Does this sort of talk interest you in such ways?" Adar's question made you want to let out a huff of laughter with how he did not seem to understand, but it also saddened you with how undesirable he saw himself.

A smile crept upon your face, now it had become your turn to be shy about things.

"What can I say. I suppose thinking about such things, about doing them with you is affecting me." You gave him an apologetic look, still unsure how he was faring in the moment.

Closeby the sound of a group of uruks drew closer and before you you watched him shake off his current state and hold himself with that leader stature that came naturally to him. "We'll speak more after today's business if attended to. In my chambers. Come find me then." You bid each other farewell and moved on.

Later that day, within the privacy of Adar's chambers you found yourself sat atop his hips. Your garment bunched up at at yours after you had helped him out of his armor and left him in just his tunic and trousers.

Adar's face still held no sign of true enjoyment.

"I am not offending you with any of my actions, am I?" You stopped your already slow ministrations, not wanting to cross a line.

"No, not offensive. I don't want you doing anything that makes you uncomfortable. Don't feel you must do this because of how my body responded before." One of his hands had come to rest against you, yet still over your garment instead of the skin of your thigh.

"You are not forcing my hand, nor my mind. I do this because I want to. There are no chains that bind me to these tunnels. No shackles that force me into this bed." With the utmost care you took his hand off your clothed waist and placed it on your bare thigh. "I want you. For my own pleasure, and yours."

There was loads of convincing needed to have him put his hands on you more intimately, let alone have his cock inside of you. Sighs of "oh, Adar please.." and "your hands feel so good." Turned into your combined moans as Adar finally gave in to the pleasure he felt. He gave up his control for you to take the lead and with the events from earlier gone from your minds you allowes him to spill inside of you, only realizing once the deed had already been done.

"You know the children you bear won't be fair like you.." The way he spoke sounded like he felt as if he cursed you, but you weren't letting him. Everything he gave you was a blessing, and never a curse.

"Fairness is in the eye of the beholder, my love. And I am sure they will be perfect."

You knew Adar wanted to speak against your words but he stayed quiet, knowing he could not win in this. You loved him and his children with all their flaws ans imperfections.

Perhaps, he thougt, he should start to learn from you in seeing himself through your eyes.

[thedo0zyslider]

There is stirring from the darkest part of the tower, where the chair is. The chair with the knocked out person tied to it. Startled, Jimmy jumps in surprise. The guy who'd snuck in seems to be waking, which means he has to interrogate them now. Hurriedly, before the person wakes up, he shoos Flick and Norman out of the room. Even though they would probably just peak their heads in anyways, the troublesome little things.

The boy who had broken in was quite pretty, Jimmy had go be honest with himself. He was tall, lanky, and seemed to some dragon hybrid of sorts. His hair was ginger, with freckles dotting his rugged face, and perhaps even a little bit of stubble had been left on his chin. But that didn't matter....he was still an intruder. No matter how pretty. And Lizzie had always said intruders were dangerous and would try to hurt him, so Jimmy wasn't going to be taking any chances with anyone. Not even with the pretty men who broke into his home.

Just as the ginger stirs, the cod grabs the frying pan from earlier, the weapon securely clutched in his hand. He walks over, trying to look at threating as possible, right as the boys eyes mange to open.

"You." Jimmy looks down at him, feeling like his whole soul is being pierced by that blue gaze. "Why are you in my tower?" The frying pan is twirled in his hand, a way to fidget mostly, but it probably makes the other more nervous. Which sounds like a pretty good thing in this scenario, if the blonde does say so himself.

"I, um," The boy stumbles through a response, looking down at the ropes currently binding him to the chair. "I was running from the gaurd and I needed a place to hide. And then I saw a tower and decided to hide there." It's a simple explanation, maybe suspiciously so. He struggles against the ropes a bit, and Jimmy grips the frying pan tighter.

"Oh....so you're not here to hurt me?" The blonde murmured, feeling himself relax a bit. But not too much, because this guy might be lying. He might just be trying to get free of the ropes, and who knows what will be said and done once he's out of them

The dragon in the chair seems confused at his questions, forrowing his brows at it. "No? Why would I hurt some random guy?" And well....the cod supposes that a fair enough reason. Why would he hurt some random guy, especially if he wanted to hide in some guys house from the guard?

"..Why were you running from the guard though? Doesn't that make you a criminal?" Jimmy questions further, pointing the pan at the others face. He hopes it's as threatening as he imagines, or that the other just doesn't want to be knocked out again. Either will do.

"No. Not me." The boy shakes his head, looking like he really doesn't want to explain this particular part of the story. "I'm like, the prince, and I just messed up something or whatever. Didn't want my dad to scold me again."

"You're the prince!? Of the neighboring kindgom!?" Jimmy's next sentance comes out as a yelp of suprise, the cod completely forgotting all his sisters warings. Though he supposes those mean nothing now, with someone who was pampered all their life sitting in front of him. Someone of that high of status shouldn't have any reason to hurt him, while also being one of those worst people ever to have tied up in their tower. But that's a problem for later, if the prince even cares about it.

"Yep. That's what I just said." The ginger seems to be getting rather exasperated, struggling in the ropes a lot more. He clealry wants to be free, and even Jimmy can't balme him for it. Those are literally the mkst uncomfortable ropes they've ever owned for any reason. "Can you untie me now?"

"Sure, I'll untie you." Jimmy says, an idea starting to form in his mind. His best idea to date, and one that will hopefully work. An idea to get him what he has always desired more than anything. Something Lizzie would never let him have, even with all her love factored in. "If you take me to see the water."

"The water?" The prince is puzzled, but intrigued. He also seems a little sympathetic, for Jimmy’s desperation must be starting to seep through already. You can't keep a fish out if the water, after all.

"The swamp, ocean, river, any body of water will do. Please. Promise me that, and I'll let you go, okay?" The cod finds himself nearly begging for it, the frying pan in his hand now nearly forgotten. For a weapon will not help him get what he truly wants anyway. He lowers it, moves it further away from the intruder. A sign of trust, and peace. "I'll keep you away from the guards as long as you want, just take me to the water."

The prince gives him a look, and he still seems rather puzzled. But that doesn't matter, as long as he doesn't say no. He shifts again against the ropes, and makes his choice.

".....You have a deal, fishboy." The ginger agrees, sounding a little reluctant about it. Jimmy has to stop himself from screaming in joy and scaring the cats, whi have already snuck back in the room and are watching the two people carefully.

"Great!" The blobde says, taking a hesitant step forward. "And drop that nickname while you're at it." He adds, making sure his distate for it comes through. The prince looks at him for moment, as if considering the cod's words, before nodding.

"Fine. Now get me outta these ropes, please?" He agrees, and flashes a smile at Jimmy. An attempt to charm him, probably. An attempt that works.

The cod puts the frying pan down on the floor, and walks closer to the chair. He apologizes to Lizzie in his head a million times over, and slowly starts to undo the rather unnecessary amount of rope he'd wrapped around the intruder.

"What's your name?" He asks, pausing his work on one of the knots. The one that holds the boy's hands together.

"Fwhip." The ginger answers simply, squirming impatiently against the bindings once more.

"I'm Jimmy." The blonde hums, rolling his eyes. He finishes untying the ropes, no idea how important that name will become to his life after that.

[lamentingocean]

Do a analysis on his power. Let's start with our insane husband. jaha Lee. The master of the black rabbit clan.

Jaha:

he has near superhuman physical strength. When we are talking physically, I mean punching a person in fact or slapping someone so hard. so let's do this here.

Jaha made an entire building rumble by his pure physical strength, and that isn't normal for only human learning martial arts. we didn't even see him use qi. If you would take a look at the guy's neck before he got slammed down. it's turning purple, and he is also trembling. So, making a person tremble is a bit uncommon when raising up a person while choking them out.

Next is he is able to slap someone, and they are flying away, not on purpose but to the point of when they are in the ruins of a table and they are 7 feet away from jaha.

Next is his slaps.

We see him slap so many people in the face of the manwha If you do a re-read. But we see him literally create bruises and scars just by one slap in the face. like when dokgo tried to make jaha the new leader of the Black Sea wolves. it's only one slap, and then a tooth broke out of his mouth. You have to be so strong to be able to break off a tooth by one single slap in the face. I feel bad for dokgo.

Next is. I don't know what technique he used. But he literally slammed a head into the wall, and it explored to the point of when he's headless. This is when he got done fighting the old black sea wolves leader. According to my trusty Google. you have to have 1,000 pounds, 4,000 newtons of force, 200k g of force, and 500 pounds. Idk Google is trivial. But jaha did all of that in the span of a few seconds. I don't know if he used a technique or if he physically had to crush his head to make his blood spatter all over the walls. it makes me question how strong he was in his past life. Because you literally have to have the ability to bend steel in order to crush a head that much back in episode 32.

next is his qi power or his firepower in his techniques.

he destroyed the battle pavilion arena by his own fire, and it was spreading like a virus too much,

he shot out a technique to the cloudburst and elder dragon king army to pretty much the entirely. And then killed like 14 to 25 gaurds in that technique. he shoots out qi bombs to his opponents since he does steal qi from others. which boosts his qi a lot. He defeated a gun by his fire qi. damaging him a lot. He also defeated the black rabbit clan leader, slamming him into the wall, nearly detonated and burnt. so we can specifically say that his qi is also really powerful to go that large into murdering 14 to 25 people.

Next is his punches.

it's kinda normal to spill blood out of a punch. But jaha's punches hit different to a lot of people. he's able to crush rib cages and bones. By one punch, he is able to completely kill someone by his punches and able to punch someone to punch someone in a far range. He is able to make a person completely overwhelmed by getting punching by him, also stunning them. His punches can get someone killed. So he simply has brute strength in terms of punching and fighting without a sword.

Next is his reflexes.

Oh my...Ughh, he is able to dodge so many attacks and able to move so fast at dodging any attack his opponent makes. he uses his speed to move near superhuman speed. his attack speed is insane speed. when he was fighting sachong yu. he blocked all of his attacks when he was supposed to be fast at it with ease. he didn't receive any scars at any battle with those kinds of skills.

Next is his speed.

He mentioned that he was faster than all of the heavenly generals. He said he could practically fly. he is able to stun many gaurds by using his speed. he is able to jump from building to building. he must be like Sonic, the hedgehog.

and then the last topic is his insanity.

I guess his madness is actually a boost to his current power. He even had gaurds or fighters get pstd or truama by jaha's power. next is his battle iq.

He's able to analyze his opponent's battle movements in a second. Even if his opponent doesn't have any details shown in his fighting, then jaha would see it this instantly. he can copy his opponent's attacks.

So, in conclusion:

Jaha is still a human, but his strength and power are the pure opposite. So he's extremely powerful currently.

[ijustgothere-thisisamistake]

When almost all of my mistakes in Doulingo is because English is my second language and my grammar isn't the best...

[technowoah]

Can I request a prompt #37 with Karl Jacobs? I love your writing btw :)

Ring(s)

The four times Karl tried to propose and the one time he actually did.

- Karl Jacobs x gen!neutral reader!

- Prompts: 37) "Are you proposing?!"

⚠︎ swearing, fluff, angst if you squint and a rushed ending. I didn't proofread either

an// TYSM FOR LIKING MY WORK 😭ALSO Thanks for requesting and sorry this came out so late! Hope you enjoy :)

To say that Karl loved you was an understatement. He adored you and practically worshipped the ground you stood on. He is so respectful, which is a major upgrade from your other boyfriends, and loves you for who you are. You didn't have to put on a facadè at all during the 3 years you two have dated.

This love wasn't a one way thing. You loved him just as much, or even more, than he did. Everything he did you supported, you were always cheering him on from wherever you were. You were here for the good and the bad, and he was too. You two never shyed away from admiting your love and support. You could write a essay on each thing you love about Karl.

The idea of marriage came up during a late night dinner at Denny's. The idea came so naturally to you, so it surprised Karl that you didn't tense up. Karl was tense when bringing up the topic of marriage, so when you said "Yeah, I wanna get married to you one day." so casually it caught him off gaurd.

You two had already talked about marriage time and time again, but this time Karl wanted to take the initiative. He was ready to get married and since the marriage talk was just a few months ago it was fresh in his mind. Karl could vividly imagine you walking down the aisle towards him looking angelic. He could see everything now and he wanted those daydreams to become a reality. He wanted to physically feel your hands against his as you two say "I do" to one another.

He couldn't stop thinking about settling down in a nice house with you. Karl already bought a ring for you and always has it with him. Now he justs needs to figure out how to tell you.

1st proposal: Fireworks

"THIS IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE FIREWORK IN THE ENTIRE WORLD-"

You blocked out Jimmy's yelling as you sat in a lawn chair in the middle of the woods. Karl had invited you to a MrBeast video shoot because he thought it would be a great early 4th of July. It was late at night and slightly cool outside, so you were wearing a MrBeast hoodie Karl was wearing earlier. You zoned out as the boys talked to the camera over and over again, taking multiple shots.

You found yourself looking at Karl most of the time you sat there and you always caught his gaze towards you. Every time you caught him looking at you, you sent him a small wave or blow him a kiss and every time he sent a shy wave back or sent a more exaggerated kiss back.

During halfway through the shooting you begrudgingly had to move your lawn chair further and further away from your original spot. Karl always checked up on you before and after each firework set were blown up. He has been acting fidgety around you and you didnt know why. When you tried to confront him about it he would always turn away and go back to the boys without a glance back, and his hands in his pockets.

You loved watching the guys play with so many different types of fireworks, this was a great 4th of July for you, but you wished that Karl was sitting next to you feeling the bliss that you were.

You were currently sitting behind bulletproof glass while the guys had a control panel on their lap. Karl kept sending glances towards you and you looked at him and smiled whishing he was next to you and not over by the guys. You knew it was selfish, but he invited you here.

Karl kept bouncing his leg, he kept his hand in his pocket which held the ring. He kept sending glances towards you, knowing he should be on one knee right about now. Jimmy was about to fire off the last rocket of the night and Karl couldn't seem to go over and ask you to marry him. He knew he was hilding himself back which made him hate himself. You deserved a good night and he hoped you enjoyed the fireworks, but he knew on the ride back he would have to apologize.

He stayed with the boys as they went to go see the fireworks they would be setting off soon. Once they came back they were all about to press the button to set off the expensive fireworks they counted down from 5 and he looked towards you. You were standing up with your arms crossed, hopefully shielding yourself from the cold, and looking towards the fireworks that were going to burst. They finally pressed the button the fireworks went off.

Each burst of light in the air sent a glow onto your smiling face. Karl sent a somber glace and marveled in how the explosion of the fireworks sent a beautiful glow around you.

This wasnt the right time. Next time.

2nd proposal: Donuts

"Im sorry for last night." Karl apologized as you both took a seat at a booth by the window at the small coffee and donut shop.

This was supposed to be an apology for the last failed proposal. Instead of spending time with you, he kept his distance which was the opposite of what he really wanted to do. This was a way to spend much needed time with eachother, but this was also another attempt at a proposal.

Karl wanted to hide the ring in the middle of a donut so when you inevitably look at it when he hands it to you, you'll see the ring and then he'll propose right there. To him it seemed flawless.

You never wanted a huge proposal. You didnt want that much attention on you when your future significant other would propose. Something simple would be the ideal proposal and you've hinted that many times to Karl and right now he was listening. There were only two other couples in the small diner because others were picking up donuts and leaving. If he decided to get down on one knee it would cause a scene.

You stayed silent for a moment looking at Karl before deciding to speak.

"It's no problem. Please dont stress out about it." You smiled softly and he smiled back at you. "I mean the fireworks were beautiful, but you all were screaming too much."

You both laughed as you both recalled that night in the desert.

"Yeah I just didn't..I didn't really talk to you all night. I feel bad." Karl said fiddling with his hands.

"Its in the past Karl. And I still know you love me." You reached out to grab both of his hands and hold his cool hands in yours.

"I do love you." He whispered for only you to hear leaving both of you smiling ear to ear.

"What kind of donuts you want?" Karl asked looking into your eyes carefully.

You thought about it for a while before speaking up. "I'll keep it simple. Icing with sprinkles. Surprise me with the icing color!" You exclaimed while letting go of his hands for a second.

Once you two let go of eachothers hands he immediately went to his pocket and played with the velvet box. He nodded his head and without a word he stood up to meet the cashier behind the display box of donuts. He ordered only one donut as you said with orange icing this time.

He paid for the food and stayed at the counter where he paid. Karl looked back to see if you were paying attention to him only to see you looking out the window at the people passing by. Karl smiled at the sight knowing he really wants to marry you one day and then he looked down at the glistening ring inside of the box.

Karl was supposed to put the ring in the middle of the donut that was laying alone on a napkin on the counter. He started to think of the possibilities of what could happen. What if you didn't see the ring and crumble the ring with the napkin and throw it away? What if you accidentally put the ring in your mouth? What if you weren't hungry anymore?

He looked over again to where you were looking at him giving him the same smile you gave during the fireworks. Karl sighed and once again closed the box with the ring. He was a coward and he knew that.

Karl picked up the donut from the counter and made his way over to you.

"Here's your donut with sprinkles and orange icing!" Karl exclaimed putting emphasis on the 'orange' part.

"Thanks babe!" You smiled as he sat down across from you. "Wait, you didn't get anything for yourself?"

Karl sighed again for what seemed like the 100th time today and put on a smile. "I ended up not being as hungry as I thought I was."

"Well I could always share!" You started to eat your donut as Karl ended up looking outside.

Unbeknownst to you he was thinking of another way to propose without himself getting in his own head.

He'll find a time.

3rd proposal: Livestream

"Chat! As you can see I have my significant other here with me!" Karl exclaimed to his Twitch following.

You were sat next to him in another one of his office chairs with a blanket across your lap. You loved to join Karl's streams, the last couple of time you two played minecraft, gang beats, played on the nitendo switch for a while, but this time he didn't tell you what games you two would be playing. Karl just told you to come over tonight and ended up asking to join him for a stream last minute.

Now you are here next to him as Karl glows with excitement as he streams to his growing followers. You loved how he interacted with his fans and had a genuine connection with them, but sometimes that strong connection can, and has led to some nights where you had to stay the night and comfort him from his inner demons and the internet. Those nights made you love him even more, the vulnerability he gave to you made you comfortable with him.

It seems like the more time you spend eith him the more you want to officially get married. You didn't want to rush him because you soon figured out for yourself that there is no rush to express your love, which you two do everyday day. You two can get eloped in Vegas and you'll be happy, as long as you can spend the rest of your life with the man you love.

Karl kept sending glances towards you throughout the stream hoping you were having fun with the chill, q and a stream. Again he wanted to propose to you tonight during the stream. He loved showing your relationship whenever he could and whenever you would allow him to. His community also loved you the moment you became his significant other, so hopefully this will be a beautiful moment.

You talked to his chat as he contemplated, again, about whether to propose tonight. It wasn't infront of people, it was infront of a screen and it would be on Twitter in less than a week. This would be a good moment, but then again he wanted this moment to be between you two and he couldn't find the right time nor the right "moment".

As the stream continues you ended up wrapping yourself fully in the blanket and lying your head on his shoulder. You both cuddled eachother while you two answered questions. Karl kissed the top of your head and finally collected all of his thoughts.

He didn't need to propose to officially claim his love to you. Karl knew you both loved eachother to the ends of the Earth and back. There's no need for ceremony and the one day he will propose, he know it will come naturally. There is no need to force it, and now he wont.

Only time will tell.

4th proposal: spongebob

"Are you ready, kids?

Aye, aye, Captain!

I can't hear you!

Aye, aye, captain!

Oh!"

The TV illuminated the comfortable, dark room you two were in. You were lying on the couch with Karl with the blanket you had while streaming. It was late at night after the stream and you two ended up watching re-runs of spongebob. Karl sang along to the theme song softly while you hummed along. This was the 4th episode you both watched this night and it was a great way to end the week.

"Do you want to stay over tonight?" Karl asked softly with tiredness in his voice.

"Of couse. Im too tired to move, so thanks for offering." You chuckled.

"You're welcome here anytime." Karl yawned and squeezed your sides. "Do you want popcorn?"

"Hell yeah." You got off of Karl as he walked to the kitchen.

He put the bag into the microwave and leaned back onto the kitchen counter as he waited. Karl looked over to the side and saw a empty vase which was next to the velvet box he was carrying with him this whole week. He shook his head and laughed to himself before getting the popcorn out of the microwave, dumping it in a bowl and walking back to see you taking up the whole couch.

"Move over or I'll sit on you." Karl said standing above her.

"Is that a promise?" You teased.

"Okay then!" He turned around and began to slowly and dramatically fake sitting ontop of you.

You began to laugh and try to push him off of you. You successfully got him to sit down and returned to your previous position, but this time with popcorn.

"I love you, you know that?" You hummed into his chest.

"Yeah, and I love you more."

"I love you most."

"I love you mostest." Karl laughed.

"That's not a word." You smiled.

"I love you so much I made up a word for ya." Karl kissed you head and you hugged him tighter.

"You know what?" Karl chuckled. "I love you so much that I tried to propose to you 3 times this week."

Karl finished and you sat up from your spot looking surprised. Karl sat up as well thinking he made a mistake telling you. He was abkut to apologize, but you beat him to speak.

"Oh my gosh!" You exhaled.

"Look, I'm sorr-"

"Are you proposing?!" You exclaimed with a smile on your face.

"Huh-?"

Karl was surprised just like you were before. He remembered that he wanted the Maybe this was the moment he needed this week.

Karl grabbed both of your hands and caressed them both, looking into your eyes. "I was planning to all week. But now I think this is a good moment. So Y/N? Will you marry me?"

"Of course I will!" You enveloped him into a tight hug and peppered his face with kisses. He finally found his moment and he couldn't be happier.

"You said you tried to propose three other times?" You questioned. "When was that?"

"Its a long story."

[cham-chammity]

Drunk Striker (Fanfic Oneshot)

~~~~~~~

Background info (TW: mention of suic!de):

In my AU or whatever you wanna call it, Striker was raised by his dad (Buck) and his aunt (Cassandra). Striker's mother died at childbirth, so Cassie helped her little brother Buck raise Striker. Buck suffered from Depression and a Panic Attack disorder (Striker inherited the panic attack part). Because of this, it lead to Buck commiting suicide about a year and a half prior to Striker joining I.M.P. Striker's parents were only 16/17 when he was born, so partially due to the shorter age gap he was very close with his dad. My oneshot takes place around the two-year anniversary of his dad's death.

~~~~~~~

The taste of hot, straight whiskey burned Striker's throat as his lips met the one of two newly opened bottles of alcohol he purchased. He let out a relieved breath, as the western imp hadn't drank good whiskey since he last left Wrath. He also needed a distraction from the gut-wrenching memories trying to re-surface themselves in his head, memories he knew he'd be sobbing himself to sleep if he didn't force back down.

Taking another swig, Striker plopped down at the kitchen counter and took off his hat. The one dim light above him illuminated a sickly yellow glow, causing the bottle in the imp's hand to look like an old bottle of piss. Striker smiled at the thought, Blitz definitely would say something like that in the current situation. Speaking of his boyfriend, his small smile turned into a frown. Blitz wouldn't be home for awhile since he insisted he go spend the night out with Barbie. She was barely out of rehab; the twins hadn't seen each other in months. But that wasn't the driving reason why he told Blitz to go out for this particular evening. He didn't want Blitz to see him like... this. Striker needed to stay strong for Blitz, he couldn't let his mate see the weak, sad, drunk side of him. Blitz would probably just tell him to man up and push through it. Striker was strong. He can handle these things on his own. He didn't need comfort. Just a few drinks and sleep and he'll be good. Right?

Striker sat there taking in as much of the burning liquid he could handle, like a parched cactus in the dryest possible desert. Blackout drunk wasn't his go-to--nor his favorite--way out of these things. But it did the job. Sure, he knew how unhealthy it was, but at least he wasn't one of those 24/7 drunk-ass rednecks that did it thrice a week.

Striker was barely finished with the first bottle when the sound of familiar footsteps approached the door to their apartment. The door swung open and Blitz loudly barged in (per the usual), catching Striker comepletely off-gaurd.

"Hey babe, I'm back! You will not believe what-- whoah, why is it so goddamn dark in here?" Striker hissed and squinted as Blitz turned on the brighter kitchen lights, adding to the throbbing headache Striker could feel coming.

shit, Striker thought to himself. He isn't supposed to be home for another hour.

"You're back early, though' you'd be out for another hourer.. ssso." Blitz cocked his head in concern as Striker spoke. His accent was thicker than usual. He also doesn't normally do the hissy s thing unless he meant to or was drunk. And judging by the nearly-empty bottle of whiskey along with Striker's distraught appearance, he was definitely drunk.

"Babe, why have you been drinking? Alone? Basically in the dark?"

"Ssssno big reason, juss... ta pleasure mahselfss' all."

Blitz stood in thought for a moment. Striker never drank 'just because'. He always had good reasoning behind it, so something definitely was up. The crimsom imp walked over and sat down next to his mate.

"I came home earlier because I'm worried about you. You've been acting... off the past few days. You've hardly been eating, you're quiet, withdrawn... and I can tell you're tired as well. Now I'm really glad I came home early seeing you're trying to pass yourself out with a bottle of alcoholic-looking piss."

Striker sighed and lazily rested his head on a propped up arm. "Yeah, you're right ah guess," he muttered softly.

"So tell me, what's wrong?"

Striker sucked in a sharp breath at the question. "Iss nothin' ah can't handle on mah own. I'm alrigh'. I'll prolly juss go on n' hit the hay fer t'night."

As Striker stood from his seat, a blotched hand grabbed his arm yanking him back down on the stool he was sitting on.

"No."

"Wut?"

"I said no, Striker. There is clearly something wrong and I need to know what it is. I'm not going to let you shove it under the rug. And you definitely, by the looks of it, can't handle it on your own."

Striker looked at the floor, feeling nothing but shame for his weakened state. "Ah can't let ya see me like this though. Ah need ta be strong fer ya Blitz..."

A hand gently angled Striker's head up as calm, yellow eyes met tired, blown-out ones. "Hey, who was it that said no matter who you are, everyone has something deep under the tip of the iceberg?"

Striker took a moment to think before responding. "Ah did?"

"Yes. Who was it that said no matter what, there is going to be something dark in everyone's past?"

"Ah did."

"And who was it that said they'd help me heal those deep wounds and be there for me and stay with me every step of the way?"

"Ah did."

"You did, Striker! And you still continue to help me. But here's the thing, babe... our relationship here is a two-way street. I'd be quite an ass of a boyfriend if I wasn't here for you as much as you are for me. You are the strongest, bravest imp I know. You've always been strong for me and I know you always will. And just becuase you're vulnerable, doesn't make you weak."

Striker sat in stunned silence for a few long moments, before finally giving in.

"Mah dad. Two years ago t'day. He uh.. he passed." Blitz listened as Striker slowly slurred out the words, the crack in the taller imp's voice ripping a tear through his heart. He'd never seen or heard Striker close to crying before, let alone actually cry at all. "We were..." A long pause. "We were very close." Blitz wrapped his hands in Striker's and gave them a tight squeeze. "Ah misss him sss...sso goddamn much."

And with that, Striker broke. He finally let out the loud, ugly sobs he'd been gulping down the past hour. Blitz embraced him in a tight hug and wrapped their tails together, gently rocking his mate side to side while softly stroking his hair. Striker's shoulders violently shook as he took in harsh gasps and let out heart-wrenching sobs.

Blitz felt tears brimming in his own eyes at the sound of his lover's painful grief, the sharp claws tightly gripping at his shirt causing him to hug his lover tighter.

Neither imps knew how long Striker cried for, but once his sobs calmed down to quiet cries, Blitz helped walk him back to their room. He was pretty tipsy after all.

Blitz helped Striker strip down to his boxers as he did likewise. They both lied down on their bed and Blitz cradled his lover in his arms, placing a soft, gentle kiss on Striker's forehead.

"I love you so much, Striker," he whispered in his ear. "I'm always here for you, as you are for me. Don't ever forget that."

Striker gave Blitz's hand a tight squeez in response. He was too drunk and tired to muster any words, as well as his soft cries blocked any other noises that dared escape his mouth. But the hand squeez was more than enough for Blitz. He held Striker tightly the rest of the night, the taller imp fading in and out of crying spells before eventually entirely passing out.

Blitz refused to fall asleep until all he could hear was the soft breathing from his mate in his arms. As Blitz was finally able to drift to sleep himself, he was thinking up of some hangover breakfast ideas to make for his partner in the morning. Or afternoon, that'd work too. Striker needed the sleep after all.

~~~~~~

I originally post my fanfiction on my Wattpad (@cam-illeon). Hope y'all enjoy!! I might do a Drunk Striker pt. ll

[sashatheswift]

Boba Fett x GNReader

Warnings: Smut. Sex is mentioned but not written in detail

Fennec was the one who recommended you for the job. You were not an assassin like her but a paid thief. You could get in anywhere and take anything. What was needed was of no concern to you, as a job was a job.

As you exit your ship and step foot on Tatooine, the dry air whipping around, this was not a welcome you wanted. But Fennec said that it would be worth your while.

The directions were clear, go to the Daimyo’s home and seek a meeting with Boba Fett. Then you would receive the details on what he needed. You had never met Boba personally, only had heard stories of the fearless bounty hunter. This was sure to be interesting.

Two Gamorreans stood outside, posted gaurd. As you became closer to the building their grunts and squeals started going in your general direction. Stopping a few feet from them you explained, “ I am here to see the Daimyo, Boba Fett, he should be expecting me.”

One of the pig men went to confirm this meeting, as the other one kept an eye on you. You shuffled your feet, not out of anxiousness but out of impatience. Your time was valuable, expensive even.

The other guard came back, and grunted motioning into the building. As you were lead to the throne room, a droid announced your arrival. Going to the middle of the room, you stood facing a man in suit of Beskar armor. To his right was your longtime friend, Fennec.

“Not the warmest welcome for a dear friend, but I suppose it will have to do” You teased Fennec, “now that I am hear, what is that you needed?”

Fennec smiled slightly, “ I see how the security may seem a bit much but the Daiymo’s safety is my responsibility and I will ensure it is secure at every corner.” You laugh, “ even when you invite me into your home, you still don’t trust me Fen, you never have.”

Fennec grins, “ Anyone who trusts you would be a fool, as you could talk a Tusken out of their last drink of water.” With that she goes to you and embraces you, it had been years since you two had last seen each other.

Then Boba clears his throat, trying to keep the meeting on the correct path. You and Fennec side eye each other, “ Boba”, Fennec says, “ this is the one I was telling you about, the old friend of mine who can get us what we need, without the bloodshed you wish to avoid.”

Your eyes travel to the man sitting on the throne before you, he lifts up his helmet. Perhaps he did this to get a better look at your, or to have his words come through better but regardless it seemed that Fennec had failed to mention that Boba was extremely handsome, and just your type.

With a twinkle in your smile and spark in your voice you say, “ It seems Fennec forgot to mention that the current Daiymo of Tatooine is also the most handsome one I have had the pleasure of working for.”

Boba laughs, “ I suppose I should take that as a compliment as my predecessors were not known for their dashing good looks”, he grins, “But I do say the pleasure is all mine, for I have never had the galaxy’s most divine being stand in my court until today”

The room is quiet as you two share a look. Both wondering what to say next.This time it is Fennec who clears her throat, clearly wanting to move on. “ We are needing a datapad that contains the Pykes supply routes for their spice.

You turn quickly to her, “ If you want me to piss off the Pikes, well then your gonna have to pay extremely well, because that is nothing short of a death wish.”

Boba and Fennec eye each other, finally after a few moment of silence Boba says, “ name your price and we will double it”

“ Very well” you say as you reach into your satchel, “ here is what you needed”. You pull out a chrome datapad you had stolen the day prior.

Fennec gasps, “ how did you possibly know we needed this?” She exclaims.

“ We all make a living, mine is information and materials, yours is bodies, dead or alive.” You giggle at Fennec and Boba’s surprised looks. “ I will be in town till tomorrow, I will stop by later to talk about and collect payment, as for now I need a drink”.

A few hours later you come back to the home of the Daiymo, but this time you just use the unguarded kitchen door. You remind yourself to tell Fennec about this major security blunder later. As you enter the kitchen you see Boba pouring himself a drink.

“ I would have thought the Daiymo would have a droid or a servant to pour him his drinks?” You say, making the former bounty hunter jump. His soft eyes go to you, sending you shivers, as you notice his eyes wander farther than your face.

He steps closer to you, studying you. “ It is either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid to break into the Daiymo’s house, which one do you prefer” Now if it wasn’t for the smile on his face, you would have thought he was upset, but this was playful jest… at the very least.

“ I’ve always imagined myself a courageous person, already wanting to take on a challenge.” You muse, moving closer to him. “ I plan to leave tomorrow morning, I came to collect payment for a job well done”

Boba is now inches from you, leans in and says, “ I think you should postpone departure for the next day”, he lifts your chin with his finger, “ because tomorrow your gonna be to sore for travel.”

Your lips grazing each other, “ I still expect payment, my Daiymo”, saying this lights a fire in his eyes. “ you will get your payment, plus-“ he moves his hand hand down your back, with a growl in his voice he says “ I want to give you so much more.”

You take the leap and lock lips, your hands start feverishly feel his body. His hands start to trail yours. Finally you both break for air. He looks longingly at you, then he whispers into your ear, “ I would be honored if you would spend the night with me”.

Your hands travel up his chest to the back of his neck, you lean in and say, “ The honor would be all mine, my Daiymo.” He kisses your neck deeply, making you moan softly. He leads you to the bedroom, and proceeds to make this the best job you have ever taken.

[luimagines]

Subject 10-Mulan Link

You have now gained the accesses file page of the chain links case number #19835 Corrupted heroes for Subject #10

Current state: Safe

legal name: Link,last name unknown

Nicknamed: Mulan 

Biological age: unknown

Chronical age: unknown

Hieght: Unknown

Weight: unknown

Visiting accesse time for subject Zero: Must be planned ahead of schedule time in order to have private meetings and clerance from head chief researcher Queen zelda and level 5 personal clerance

Physical description: Subject 10 is a short haired Hylian woman who wears a green tunic and knight gear armor.They have a well built muscular body and a ferret that rests around thier neck as well as scars and cuts around thier body.The most noticeable scare they have are three little cuts under thier chin and a long vertical cut across thier right cheek.

Information: Subject 10 first arrived at the castle carrying subject zero and subject 11 bloodied and badly injured with a broken arm and serveral fractured bones as well as stab/slash wounds.They came in as duplicates of four identical versions of subject 10 dressed variouse colors such as brown,cyan,yellow and green.Only one of the 4 sets had arrived at the castle with subject Zero and Subject 11 while the others fought off to keep back the “chain” while back up knights and town gaurds were deployed to apreheand them.Subject 10 is not placed under any containment but is required to come to the SCRPP research site to have check ups and testing as well as recorded interviews with research personales.Subject 10 refuses to have to go anywhere without her ferret campaion so all interviews and meetings are held with subject 10′s ferret either on the site with them or curled around subject 10′s neck.Subject 10 is in current possesion of the master sword and four sword as well as veriouse other items from the group(but not all for research purposes and other classified resons).They are to be informed of any drastic procedures that are to be done to any of the known subjects and participats of case file #19835.Subject 10 is one of the only subjects out of all the links who dose not show a red essence seeping out or show any signs of agression or possesive behvaiors for subject Zero. Research is still going underway to find out a way as to why it is and if blood or dna samples can be exracted from subject 10 in order to find a cure.

[interview recoding of subject 10 #1]

Dr.Jean: Now beining case file number #1983 dash 1 subject 10 interview of the anomalie the Curropted Heros. Time started at 10:89. Interview researcher personale Dr.Jean, tag number 893 of site 13 room A14.

Dr.Jean: Ok,lets start.Rember at anytime you start to feel uncomfortable we can stop the interview,alright?

Link: ok..

Dr.Jean: ok,lets start off with something simple.Subject 10 can you please state your name?

Link: Mulan.

Dr.Jean: I am sorry,let me clarify I meant your real name.

Link: oh,right..its uh,its Link.

Dr.Jean: Good,can you state your last name as well?

Link: I dont have one.

Dr.Jean: Are you sure? No documnets? Family? Anyway to file for one?

Link: Yes,I am sure.I dont have one.Thats it.

Dr.Jean: Right,right, *ahem* can you tell us how long you’ve know the links?

Link: We had all know each other for about a year and a half, and today would have been our second year together if…you know,had things still been normal with everyone.

Dr.Jean: how did you meet these people to begin with?

Link: I was out exploring the outskits of the forests behind my house one day and saw a bright light,so i got curiouse and followed it.I found a portal and went through it.I was transported to the guredo desert and wondered a around for a bit before I found the chain.it turns out the portal took me to a diffrent time period and there was some time,dimentional stuff going on and we were all gathered to fix it or something.

Dr.Jean: How did you meet subject Zero?

Link: Subject Zero? oh,do you mean [redacted]?

Dr.Jean: Link,please reframe from saying subject Zero’s real name during this interview.

Link: Fine.

Dr.Jean:thank you,pleas contiue.

Link: We first met them a few months after lucky came when [ audio connection has been temperarly lost]

Dr.Jean: Intresting and how did you feel about Subject zero?

Link: I didn’t think much of them, I thought that they were ok.they were kind of nice and everyone liked them,so I did too.But there was something just…off about them.

Dr.Jean:Off like what? Did you distrust them?

Link: no,no,no not distrsut or anything like that…just that something was not right…there was  just something…..something WRONG with them,I dont know how to describe it, they were just not normal in a very bad way.But I ignored it and didn’t think much on it. I think they were just…diffrent.

Dr.Jean: Why did you help them escape?

Link: Because it was the right thing to do.I wanted to get them out of a situation where they were held captive and also keep the others from killing each other on who got to keep them.Its not that complicated. besides it my fault for not stopping this sooner.

Dr.Jean: How?

Link: What?

Dr.Jean: How do you think it was your fault?

LInk:[sighs] its…it was all right there I didn’t want to see it,I knew everyone was starting to act a little wierd but I didn’t want to take it that seriously,I didn’t want to think badly about my fami-friends..my friends…Until one day when they had gone completly overboard and uh…..I had found some of them beating down on a man after they were flirting with..with subject Zero…and to say that they looked like they were thugs when they were doing it would be too much of a understatement…They looked like they were having a good time doing it too.I swear when I saw them that day at the allyway they were not the heros I knew and travled with and as faw as i was concerned they were strangers-no,not even that,they were monsters…And the look on thier faces when I yelled out to them and they turned to me…it was like they were going to kill me right there and then……[Inhales heavily before exhailing shakingly] they weren’t normal….thier eyes….I don’t think I can really ever forget those empty vacant looks..it was like someone els was there…Since then things had started to get worse.

[suject 10 begins to pet her ferret at this time seeming to find comfort in it from thier stress]

Dr.Jean: Who were the ones that were there at the time of the incident?

Link: it was…I think Twilight,Four,Sky and Wild were all there.

Dr.Jean: Even Sky?

LInk: Yeah, him too.I rembered the second I started yelling and taring a new in asshole for them he just came up from behind the group and started to try to “calm me down” and explain how the shit I just saw wasn’t what it seemed like and yadda yadda yadda,typical gaslighting you know? But I wasn’t going to fall for some shit like that so I got the man out of there and to a medic, payed for all his expenses and reported them to Time and Warriors. Honestly I was so pissed off and in shock about it all that I had finally started notice and realize more and more things that were wrong about the group that I use to just keep ignoring.I still didn’t try to do anything serious about it though until the end of our journey.

Dr.Jean:What did you mean by noticeing things?

Link: …….just things….and looking back at it now should have been obviouse red flags but I never pressed for them.I think the first time I did it was with Wsrriors but he kept brushing me off saying things like “everyone is just protective of [redacted]” or “that you are looking way too into this” and when he did listen to me he would tell me that he’d keep a closer eye on the group.I suppose you can take a guess that, he did not, in fact, keep up the promis that he made.

Dr.Jean: did at any point in your adventures feel,were attempted to or successfully attacked or harmed by any members of this group during you adventures before the escape?

Link:No-well I mean yes but…[  exasperated sigh]…yeah….yeah there were a few…ok maybe a lot…But I guess the one that really stuck with me was when,uh,when Time held me up against a wall and tryed to cut my throat during a heated argument about…..them.

[Subject 10 reaches over to rub on a faint cut across thier neck]

[the ferret circles closer to her neck nuzzling it head into hers in an attempt to comfort Link]

Link: Aww,its ok little guy,I am fine right now.Don’t worry fluffy.

Dr.Jean: i am sorry if its too much but what was the argument about?

Link:…….

[subject 10 stays silent for a few minutes before speaking again]

Link: It was about if we should kill subject zero.

Dr.Jean: Then do you think we should kill subject zero?

[subject 10 stops petting fluffy and stares at the doctore without giving an answer for several more minutes]

Link:[a shallow exhale leaves thier mouth] …….I……..I….

[the sounds of sirens and alarms going off]

Annocemnet :There is a containment breach in the D -12 containment building floor,please all personels and staff go to the evacuation exits and safety rooms while special elit force knights handle the situation.Subject 4 case 19835- 1,2,3 and 4 cololrs have all escaped.If you see him or any of the colors they are to be neutralized and brought back to thier containment cells.All other staff do not ingage unless -

Dr.Jean: oh Hylia,looks like we’ll have to cut this short and we have to hurry and-wait where are you going! The safety room is this way! Link!

Link: [distant and muffled]I know,I just need to go out and kick a few stobbern little butts back in thier cells first-!

Dr.Jean: Link the elit knights can handle it you don’t have to-Link!! Link! Sir Link! Lin-!!

[audio ends here]

I am doing wind next

This is long, so I'll react as I read.

oh SHOOT THEY RAN!!!

MULAN USES THE FOUR SWORD!!

[REDACTED]?!?!!?

LUCKY!!!

AUDIO CONECTION TEMPORTARILY LOST!?!?!?!?!?

THEY GONNA KILL A GUY-KIL MULAN!!? SKY IS GASLIGHTING!?!?

TIME CUT THEM?!?!?

MULAN GONNA KILL SUBJECT ZERO!?!?!?

THEY ESCAPE!?!?!? THE COLORS ESCAPE!!!!

MULAN GOES TO FIGHT?!?!?

MY GIRL!!!!

OH MY GOD

[jojo-fantasy-aus]

Fantasy AU!

Josuke x F! Reader- CH 1.

First post, yay! This will be a longer series, so feel free to give me any criticism or suggestions!

-----

  Being born into a peasant family was definitely not the greatest way to secure a happy life, but you made due with it. Your mother was a seamstress, father a carpenter, and you made it a point to learn everything you could from both of them. The more skills you had, the more likely you were to get a better job, and in turn, create a better life for you and your family.

  And that was exactly what you did. You managed to get a job at the Royal Palace, a favor from some family friends, and quickly moved up the ranks. Everyone knew that it was because you were kind, and had made a good impression on the king, but you'd rather say that it was because of all the hard work you had done.

  You had been the head lady-in-waiting for some time now, and had thought you'd seen everything. The Crown Princess, your beautiful best friend, tended to always get into some sort of trouble. You always made a point to try and prepare yourself for any incoming inconveniences, but today was... different.

  "I just don't understand why Father makes me go to these things!" You hummed in response, currently focused on lacing up the powder pink dress she was to wear tonight. The beautiful fabrics elegantly draping just below her ankles, you regarded the dress with pride, it was one of your mother's designs. She was over the moon when Yukako asked for one to be made for the People's Gala.

  The People's Gala was more of a festival than anything. An outdoor event, and  favorite of everyone in the kingdom. The festival was a kindness the king gave the commoners every year to show his gratitude. It was a wonderful tool to keep the everyone in the kingdom happy.

  "Well, there isn't another crown princess to attend for you, Yukako." She huffed, standing patiently still as you tightened her corset to a breathable squeeze. You checked her hem for any stains or rips once more, and stood once you were done, making sure she could move around just fine. Smiling a bit when you remembered something that was sure to lift her spirits.

  "You know, rumor around the Palace is that the page boy you like will be attending. Koichi Hirose, was it?" Yukako's icy face lifted immediately, excitedly turning around to clutch your hands. She opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly closed it. Brows furrowed, frowning. You already knew what she was thinking. A ball of sadness and empathy forming in the pit of your chest.

 "I'm sure he wouldn't want to see me again. Not after what happened." You had almost forgotten. You sighed, the princess had... a bit of a manic episode a while back. Focusing on Koichi in an... unhealthy amount. Needless to say, he had become quite wary of her. But she still snuck glances at him when she attended the royal library during her studies. You had never been in love yourself, but you knew enough about it to know she had it bad.

  "I'm sure he won't be too flighty Yukako. At least you will be able to see him once again?" You murmur half-heartedly, briskly making your way around the room to blow out rose-sented candles and put things you had used to get her ready back in place.

  "I suppose..." you let out a pitiful chuckle, hoping that your friend would feel better once she was at the gala. It had become her favorite, but only because she always seemed to be able to speak to Koichi as he shadowed the head page during the king's speech. You didn’t actually know Koichi that well, so you hoped for the princess' sake that he had forgiving mannerisms.

  You quickly brought the Princess' shoes out, and laced up your own boots as she put them on. Smoothing out your plain blue skirt as you stood, you held out an arm to escort the princess. Usually it was unseemly to see a woman escorting another, but Yukako refused to let anyone else escort her. The king only allowed it because you managed to keep her out of trouble. (It was also partly due to the fact that she was too infatuated with Koichi to have eyes for a woman.)

  The walk down to the palace gates was unfortunately, and uncomfortably, long. Yukako was squirming in her corset the entire time, desperately trying to look ladylike while she did. You tapped her arm lightly, a simple reminder to keep her composure. Servants and cooks were running around the ground floor like crazy, frantically trying to get everything together. Weaving in and out if the fray was quite tiring, but eventually the two of you made it to the gates unscathed.

  Vendor tents were proped up as far as the eye could see, sweet smells floating in the breeze to antagonize those who had not yet eaten. The guards let you through with a wave as you and Yukako prepared yourselves for the onslaught of people along the streets.

  The tents were all decorated beautifully, flowers and suns and other symbols painted on the cloth roofing. The setting sun casting a beautiful golden hue on everything and everyone. Those who recognized the princess bowed and curtsied as you passed, and those who didn't just waved and gawked at her beautiful dress. Some simply said nothing, as her cold outside demeanor seemed a bit intimidating. You knew yourself that she could be a bit scary when she wanted to be, but right now she was in awe. Looking at all the vendors with a sparkle in her eye. It was good to see her be herself in public for once.

  "Try not to get too enamored, Princess, your father wants us to meet him for his speech. Knowing him we'll be there all day."  You mused, leading her through the crowd carefully, keeping away from alleys and sketchy figures. You knew you were probably being overly cautious, but for some reason you just felt the need to be careful. Nerves welling in your stomach telling you so. Having always had correct gut feelings, you search for something else to focus on to mask the concern, not wanting Yukako to lose her cool herself.

  You thought about that for a moment, no, Yukako would never be thrown into a panic due to gut feelings. She'd be a bit more defensive maybe, but she'd never let weakness like that show.

   Every once and a while you would pass a few royal guardsmen watching over the festival, you made a point to wave at them when you could to make sure they were watching you and the princess. This settling sense of anxiety was pointless, you knew, but you certainly would rather take precautions then suffer the consequences.

  At last, you had finally made it to the gazebo. Elegant white and gold trim framed the marble pillars, ceiling slumped in a slender tent-shape. It had been freshly cleaned, but the doves still fluttered about in the rafters. The king was atop a temporary throne, speaking to his advisors. The knights at all four corners bowed as you two carefully ascended the steps.

  "Yukako! Dear, just who I wanted to see!" The king cheered when he spotted her, calling out your name just after. The king was a rather large, jolly man. He wasn't quite handsome, not to the point of being ugly, but needless to say it was hard to believe that Yukako had come from, well, him. The king's crown sat grandly upon his head, dressed in fine fabrics and deep indigo colors he certainly looked the part for his title.

  "I assume that there were no problems arriving?"

  "No, your majesty." The words fell from your mouth robotically, more of a reflex than an answer at this point.

  "Wonderful!" The king started to ramble on as he does, and your thoughts drifted to lunch, the chores awaiting you at home. You wanted to think about anything that could make the time possible pass faster. The king continued to drone on, always prone to these things. Yukako herself looked like she was about to fall asleep from boredom. Her arm slipped out of yours quite a bit ago, but you hadn't really noticed. Blankly staring at the king as he spoke about the splendid flower arrangements, and the farms that they came from.

  "Yes your majesty, the hydrangeas are quite beautiful." He heartily laughed, sending a friendly wink your way.

  "They always have been Yukako's favorite! Ever since she was a girl she- Yukako?" The king looked around with a confused look, you didn't understand why. The princess was  right next to you-

  But then again, she wasn't. She had disappeared from you side. You spun a around in a panic, searching through the wide, open, gazebo. She was nowhere to be found. You were right about the gut feeling yet again, weren't you. Panic built up from your stomach and pushed into your chest, overwhelming any other sense.

  "Princess?" You try your best to push the words out of your throat, turning to the side exit. Your eyes desperately search through the crowd. The king was talking to you, words muffled, you had blocked everything out, just until you saw a flash of pink in the crowd.

  "Hurry and find her!" And just like that, you took off in a sprint. Calling for her as you pushed through the crowd. Your heart was pounding in your ears. Didn't she know how dangerous this was? The least gaurded festival of them all and she decided to disappear like that? Was it even her own decision to run off, or was she taken. You didn't know, and you certainly couldn't rationize anything right now.

  The methodical feeling of your boots hitting the ground and pushing you forward was what you focused on to keep you calm. Step, push. Step, push. Rinse and repeat until you had almost collected your witts. There!-A flash of her pink skirt around the corner. You had found her. Or, you did, before your foot skidded across the gravel, and you plummeted to the ground. You slammed against the gravel, hard.

 "Whoah! Are you ok?" You pushed yourself off the ground as quickly as you could, but a pair of hands steadied you as you stood. They belonged to a taller man, blue eyes peering at you quizzically. He was a muscular build, probably a knight, you assumed. His hair was done up in such away that you would assume he was a royal, if it weren't his dirtied chain mail armor. You certainly had no time to gawk however. You tried to take off running once again, but he caught your arm.

  "Let me go!"

  "Just hold on a moment, would you? Why the rush? Are you being chased?" You didn’t have time for these questions! To no avail you tried to tug your arm away from him. And when you realized he wouldn't let you go you blurted out the only thing you could think of in that moment.

  "The princess is missing, I'm trying to find her, so let- Go!" His eyes widened, grip loosening for a split second, just enough for you to slip away. Once again sprinting in the direction you saw her last, turning the corner. The guy who had let you go was calling for you, and somehow made it to your side almost impossibly quick.

  The crowd started to become denser as the pathways winded farther away from the gazebo. Carts rumbling around the walkways and vendors passing out samples in the streets. Unwillingly you had started to slow, the man pulling ahead of you by just a bit.

  It was hard to pay attention to the people around you while you searched for Yukako. Bumping into one person and then another as you squeezed through the crowds. Turning your head just a bit you saw that the man still had an eyes on you. Peering over his shoulder as he ran. He mouthed something to you that you couldn't quite understand.

  You almost tripped again when he grabbed your hand, and yanked you into a makeshift alleyway.

 "What the hell do you think your doing!?" You yanked your hand away from him, running back to the entrance and trying to peer over the dense amount of people. Nothing. You started to get angry. Yukako could be in danger and you had lost her trail thanks to him.

  "I'm helping you find your princess." You wiped around in rage, a mouthful of words ready to fire. But once you looked past him, you saw that characteristically long hair, powder pink dress dirtied from her disappearance. A little man with silver hair, Koichi, defensively standing in front of her. You stood in shock, he did help you find her.

  "Oh, Josuke! Its just you," Koichi dropped his defensive demeanor, and Yukako's eyes followed him, completely enamored. She hardly even notice your disheveled, panicked self next to the handsome stranger that Koichi apparently knew.

  "Yeah, sorry for the interruption-" Your shock started to wear off a bit as they talked, relief and anger overwhelming your senses. Yukako was actually smiling as she watched Koichi talk though, at least she was happy.

  That's what you wanted to think anyway. You were too overwhelmed with emotion to think if anything but the fact that she wasn't hurt, and she was certainly not dead. Both men looked at you quizzically as you passed them and wrapped Yukako in a hug.

  "Yukako, what were you thinking?!" You had started to tear up, holding onto her tightly. You had forgotten about formalities just this once, thankful that your friend was ok. Once you let go of her she simply shrugged, pointing a sour look at you. Making eye contact and flicking her eyes to Koichi and back. Oh.

  You eyed Koichi with suspicion, and he immediately stiffened up, starting to ramble.

  "I'm sorry! I was just enjoying the festival and then I saw Yuka- her highness! And I thought she was lost so I-" Honestly it became harder to understand what he was saying the more he went on. The man from before, Josuke? Clapped a hand on Koichi's back, and he started to chill out a bit. Josuke looked up at you with a slight smile, and you almost blushed. He was quite handsome. You cleared your throat.

  "I suppose I should thank you. I'm sorry for the rudeness." He laughed, and you knew you were blushing, you tried your best to suppress whatever spell he had you under, treating it as a simple, shallow emotion that you wanted to rid yourself of.

  "Don't sweat it," He said curtly. "You had me thinking that she was in danger though, I'm a little pissed at that. But I don't mind." The crude words almost hung in the air, it was strange to hear people cursing so openly. You used to have the mouth of a sailor yourself, until the proper poise of the castle servants started to rub off on you too. Lord help the soul who curses in front of the king.

  "I know that her highness can be a bit unmanageable sometimes." His eyes grew serious, looking dead at you like the Princess wasn't even there. You could feel Yukako prickle behind you. She was definitely pissed. your face had twisted in a foul way at his words as well, but you pushed out a sigh, pushing down the defensive words you wanted to say because you knew he was right. 

   Koichi started to complain at Josuke's attitude and you almost felt relieved when his serious gaze shifted away from your own. You turned back to Yukako with a sigh as the friends bicker. She still had her eyes squarely on Koichi.

   "Yukako, what happened?" You whisper, lacing your hands together to resist popping your knuckles or fidgeting. Yukako folds her arms, dark gaze pointed at you once again. You probably would've been afraid if it weren't for the fact that you knew her well enough that she wasn't going to pose any threat as long as Koichi was around.

   "I'm not going to apologize because I'm not sorry. The old man should've known how boring his speeches were anyway." She explains why she ran off, Koichi was in the crowd, he waved, mouthing something to her. She ran over to him on impulse, and he panicked, trying to get her somewhere where there were less people, and where there was less of a chance of her getting hurt.

   She started to blush when she started to get to the end, you suppose that something more happened between her and Koichi that she was leaving out, but didn't press. Instead, you raise your eyebrows at Yukako with a slight smile.  She playfully swats you away, fully flustered now. 

   Neither of you knew what to do when you heard the screaming. 

   It was everywhere, women, children, and men alike, the crowd outside the alley clearing out fast, people frantically running from something or someone. You slowly step forward to stand beside Josuke, Koichi backing away to make sure yukako was ok. You tried to peer over the crowd looking for what the commotion was all about. 

   You yelp as someone yanks you back, but you already knew who it was, recognizing the restrained tug. You snap your head up to spit out a retort at Josuke, but the words die in your throat, he was focused on something that you couldn't see. His eyes set in a terrifying manner, you couldn't tell if the fear stinging in your chest was because of him or the mass panic. His hand remained on your back, softly holding onto you.

"...Jo…Josuke…" Koichi's cough causes you to jump, heart pounding in your ears as you and Josuke whipped around. Both Yukako and Koichi were in a coughing fit, a mysterious gas filling the back of the alley. You didn't think it was even possible for any more panic to settle in your chest until you saw Yukako double over, falling to the ground in her fit. Koichi fell beside her as you ran to them. Josuke was calling for you to come back but you could only hear the blood rushing in your ears.

   The moment you stepped into the mist it felt like you couldn't breath. The gas ripping coughs out of your chest, lighting your lungs on fire and leaving you to struggle to push out the smoke. Your eyesight became blurry as you saw figures step out of the thickest part of the mist. 

   "N...no…" You struggled out, watching as they picked the two of them up.The insignia on their backs burning into your memory. Your eyes began to get heavier and heavier, you started to slip into the abyss. 

   You didn't know how Josuke pulled you out of the mist. In fact, you didn't even realize you were out until you were in his arms as he ran. You tried to speak, but only a groan came out. It was hard to focus, hard to stay awake… Everything was hazy and hard to understand.

   "Don't you fall asleep on me, ok?" Your chest felt wet and sticky, a pain in your chest starting to reveal itself. Were you bleeding? You couldn't think straight. What had happened? Where were Koichi and the Princess? You could hear arrows whiz past you and Josuke. He cursed under his breath, and you weakly held onto him as he made a sharp turn. 

   He suddenly stopped. Shit. Dead end. He held you a little tighter as his face shifted into something unreadable. You were beginning to wake up more, but the pain in your chest remained constant. Josuke suddenly set you down with an apology as he set you against a wall to keep your balance, hands grazing your waist as he pulled away. It was getting easier to focus, you pressed a hand to where the pain was centered on your chest, sticky blood coating your hand when you took it away.

   You almost felt faint, the adrenaline starting to set in again. You frantically looked for Josuke again, scared that he had left you. You spotted him at the very end of the alley, flinching as the sound of metal on concrete echoed off the walls. Josuke was catching his breath after setting the sewer grate down, facing you slightly.

   "We're going in there, aren't we." You murmured, the anxiety returning as shouting grew closer to the alley. Josuke let out a pained laugh as he quickly made his way back to you. Helping you hobble over to the open grate. He hopped in first and you sat down, feet dangling through the hole, when you managed to move in just the wrong angle. A stabbing pain shot through your chest and you sucked in breath, unable to move. 

   Thank God Josuke noticed, a worried look flashed across his face. He grabbed your arm with one hand and hooked the other under your knees, awkwardly maneuvering you through the open grate. You could tell he was trying to be gentle, but the pain only grew worse. Your face contorted in pain as he gently set you down on the concrete maintenance path, his arms remaining put. You glanced up just in time to see the grate slide shut on. it's. own.

   "What the Fuck?" You whisper, earning a wide smile from Josuke. His face quickly changed when loud voices shouted overhead.

   "I thought you said they went this way, dimwit!" Josuke pressed you to his chest protectively, ready to take off with you in his hands if he had too. You could feel how built he was through the chain mail, and realized he had supported your weight along with the armour the entire way he had carried you. The thought alone makes you blush. You needed to put out this crush, he was a stranger you just met.

   "They did go this way! I swear!" A scoff and the sound of a slap echoed, you flinched a bit, keeping your eyes closed tight as you prayed for them to leave.

   You and Josuke both started to calm down as the footsteps grew farther and farther away. Josuke's stiff posture relaxing, yourself letting out a breath you hadn't realized you'd been holding.

  It was silent for a while after, you assumed Josuke was waiting a while longer to speak just in case the men returned. You almost missed the warmth of his body as he pulled away to look through the grate. Satisfied with whatever he had seen, he sat down next to you, completely relaxed. Confident in that the men were long gone, (Thanks to Josuke's reaction,) you gathered the strength to speak.

   "Where are they?" Your voice cracked. Josuke avoided eye contact with you, leaning his head back on the cold stone behind the two of you. You could clearly see that he was ashamed, and worry started to boil over in your chest.

   "I couldn't get to them." He was struggling with the words, and you just knew he was holding something back from you. Keeping some sort of detail to himself.

   A rush of mixed emotions flooded through you. Did he just leave them behind? Why?! What did he even mean he "couldn't get to them"? You decide to keep your manners in check as you sit. He was obviously a close friend of Koichi, and out of everyone you knew it was clear to you that Koichi was too honest and respectable to remain close with someone unworthy of trusting. If Koichi trusted him, you decided that you probably should too.

   Shifting uncomfortably where he was sitting, Josuke turned towards you and oh so gently moved your arms a bit so he could see the wound on your chest better. Chills ran rampant across your arms, and you hoped he wouldn't notice.

   "I managed to drag you out of there with my stand. But when I hesitated to get us out of there they started to shoot." Your brows furrowed in confusion as he scooted closer. You shuddered as he pulled open the ripped part of your white blouse just enough to see the shallow wound. It stretched from the tip of your shoulder to just below your armpit, and damn did it hurt like hell when he exposed it to the open air.

   "Stand?" Josuke shook his head, and you were in too much pain to demand an explanation. Josuke's hands remained on the edges of the ripped fabric, and even though you could see them it somehow felt like he was touching the wound. 

   "An arrow grazed you a little too close while I was standing there like a dunce, I want to apologize for that. I should've registered that we needed to escape before you were hurt." You suck in a ragged gasp as the pressure of the invisible touch increased just lightly, and suddenly the pain stopped. You look in awe as the wound starts to heal itself up completely.

   "A knight and a Mage too?" You mused after the initial shock wore off. It wasn't uncommon for "magic" and healers to be heard of, but it was certainly a shock to actually meet one. You honestly had been a little skeptical until now, and it was still hard to believe. 

   "Something like that." Josuke smiles lightly, sitting back against the wall where he was before. You didn't talk much after that. He asked you if you remembered what the men looked like, and you tried your best to explain the symbols on their cloaks, but you were afraid that you weren't very good at it.

Josuke couldn't quite understand what you were describing, and you both ended up agreeing that you both needed to look for Koichi and Yukako. Josuke as the muscle and you for… information? Moral support?

   You didn’t know, but with Yukako's life on the line you weren't going to take no for an answer even if he wanted to find them alone. 

   Your eyes started to grow heavy, but you didn't want to sleep. You felt too open, to vulnerable to sleep. Josuke was a complete stranger, and yet he had done more for you than anyone else had in ages. He had helped you, saved your life even, but doubt still trickled in through the back door of your mind. How long would it last?

   You wouldn't follow down that rabbit hole anymore tonight, sleep taking over your body swiftly as you truly started to process everything that had just happened.

[c-atm]

At the end of the Finale when Steven and Connie kiss it seems like that wasn’t their first time with mouth to mouth contact, what do you think their first kiss was like or how it played out?

First kiss prompt? Ok (Personally I like to think the first kiss happened between Bismuth casual and Together forever)

"It's beautiful tonight."

Steven could only nod in agreement. Him and Connie was laying down on the hood of the dondai, stargazing. They were out of Beach city, parked near a cliff overlooking the tourist town. Steven let use a relaxed sigh, this moment was perfect. No troubles, no gem trying to kill him, no runaway cacti, no social awkwardness.

Just Connie and him. It's been so long since it was just the two of them hanging out like this, sure she had her fifteen minutes breaks now, but she didn't before and this wasn't just that. She decided to take the whole evening off college prep, just to spend more time with him.

It made him feel special, wanted, important. It made him feel accepted and he didn't know how much he needed to feel that until now.

He took a look at her and couldn't stop the reddening of his cheeks or the pounding of his heart. She was just so beautiful in her teal polo blouse, light blue jean shorts, white socks and red sneakers.

He was stunned at her visage. With the moon acting as her personal spotlight, she seemed almost unearthly, unreal. Her face was a relaxed glossy smile with a lazy gaze in her eyes, her left leg bent while her right laid straight, her left hand was laid across her stomach as her right interlocked with his.

"You've been staring for a bit now."

Connie's teasing statement caught him off gaurd , as she laid on her side to face him. A gentle light in her eyes. He felt a bit exposed under her sight but he turned to meet her anyway.

"You..You noticed, huh?"

"You're not that good at stealth..." She tussled his hair a bit befor he playfully grasped it, causing her to chuckle. He grinned as she tenderly squeezed his hands.

"So wanna tell me what's been going through you mind? You were watching as if I could disappear at any moment."

She felt his hand tighten a bit at her joke, planting a seed of curiosity. She massaged the back of his hands with her thumb in comfort. "Everything's been ok?"

Steven nodded in response. "Yeah, just. Thinking, nothing big...Sorry, if I weirded you out."

"Not the first time you stared at me." she chuckled. "Besides I like your gaze, I missed it."

He watched her face take a maroon color as she glanced down just for a second.

'I missed you, Biscuit."

It came out a shy whisper but it strucked like a bat to the skull. Steven gulped as he looked at those eyes, found himself drowning in them.

I missed you too, Berry...I didn't realize how much until the roller rink."

"Same." Connie let out a small chuckle. "Things been busy for us both, huh?"

"Yeah, you with college prep."

"You with little Homeschool."

"I.." Steven started but paused ."I..I left little homeschool a month or so ago."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I've tried to do other things, like gardening, but it didn't pan out well..and Now." He grimaced, feeling a bit embarrassed. What was he busy with? What was he doing? Why couldn't he reconnect with his Berry sooner?He didn't have an answer.

"Now, I don't know what to do." He sighed shamefully.

"Well, that's ok. You got time to figure it out." She stroke his cheek, smiling at him. " Besides ,you deserve a break."

"That's kind of funny coming from you. Aren't you prepping for early college admission?"

"Yet here I am. Stargazing with my Steven."

Steven allowed himself a little chuckle at her proud smile. "True enough, Berry."

She giggled along with him as she gently squeezed his hands. They soon fell into peaceful smiles.

"You know, I don't have everything figured out either."

Steven arched an eyebrow at the admittance. "..What? Really?!"

"Yeah, really." She chuckled. " It seem I did?"

Steven nodded. "Kind of.. I mean, you know you want to go to college, and what you want to study."

"But I have no idea where I want to study and I'm not exactly sure on my major and minor either." Connie responded with a smirk. "And even if I do decide on all this. That can all change. "

He smirked, feeling a swell of adoration in his heart towards the girl. "You're so fearless about the future, Connie."

Connie couldn't help the red on her cheeks, he spoke with so much pride in his voice.

"I wished I felt the same way." His somberly sighed. "I've been on a losing streak of sorts lately. Feeling unable to help people, unneeded by people or even unable to socialize with others; you saw me at the rink. I couldn't even talk to your friends correctly until, after we fused. That, plus my previous failed attempts at something new..Makes me feel uncertain about my future..and truthfully bit like a failure."

Connie took a deep breath as took in what Steven said, closing her eyes as she did. "I get it." She opened her eyes with a determined yet gentle look. "I'm quite acquainted with the feeling of inadequacy."

Steven arched an eyebrow in disbelief.

"What with that look, Steven?" Connie smirked.

"Just didn't think you felt that way. Definitely, nowadays."

"Well of course I do, sometimes. It's normal."

"It's normal to feel lost, without a direction in life?"

"Yes. it is." She gave him a chuckle as she returned to ruffling his hair. "Especially for teens our age. Though teens our age haven't been through or accomplished what you have."

"I can say the same for you." Steven hummed at her touch basking in the affection. "You're affectionate tonight, Berry."

"Look like you needed it." Connie paused for a moment. "Is it too much?"

Steven shook his head. "No, not at all. I..Thanks Nini." His voice trembled a bit as he spoke.

"Oh Steven." She moved closer wrapping him in a hold. She place his head at heart while still playing with his hair. She grinned lovingly at the boy as he wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling close into her.

" You sure, this is ok?"

"I held you first." Connie giggled at the question. "Silly boy... Always."

"Always?" Steven looked up at her expectantly "Promise?"

Connie was surprised at the seriousness of his question, it shook her heart, but.. It was a nice shake. She smiled before giving him a kiss on his crown.. "I promise..."

he placed his head back against her shirt, she could feel slight tears and a smile on his face. "I'm sorry." His voice was muffled against her but she heard him clearly. " This was supposed to be a nice night, and here I am ruining it."

"You're not ruining anything." Connie reassured. "And it is a nice night. I'm with you. That's really all I wanted. Time with you."

Steven felt his face burned at how strong her voice was. "Connie."

"I'm so proud of you, Steven." Connie breathed deeply before she continued. "And happy to have you in my life...I'm sorry I haven't been reachable..Especially, since you've been having a hard time."

Steven shook his head. "You don't have to apologize, you've been busy getting ready for college...Planning your future."

"But you're part of that future... "

Steven looked at her a small hopeful smile growing as he watched her cheeks grow red. "I'm part of your future?"

"I always thought so..." She released her hold over him and slid down to Stevens level to be eye to eye with him. Knees brushed, hands caressed, eyes locked, and foreheads met.

"I want you to be part of my future and I hope to be part of yours too."

Steven was stunned at the blushing but determined girl before he started to to laugh. Connie was about to speak up, when Steven beat her to it. " I love you."

After a few moments, Connie stunned face exploded into a smile. Her heart was ablazed as she held his hands. "I love you too...for a long time,now."

Steven smiled but looked down feeling embarrassed. He was surprised to feel Connie holding his cheek. He turned his attention to her and was surprised at what he saw.

Connie eyes was close and her mouth was slighty parted and puckered.

Steven licked his lips gently before taking the invitation and pressed his lips to hers.

They both felt the electric current run through them. The surge of love in their hearts and the embers of bliss in their belly. They broke the kiss with a small 'chu', and opened their eyes..looking at each other with clearer sight than before..

"I've always loved you."

The two jam buds looked at each other with similar stunned expressions before bursting into giggles and chuckles, before sharing another deeper kiss. They released a few minuets later, red face, lips heated, tongue worked and fully enamored with and devoted to each other. Connie snuggled close to Steven resting her head on his heart, holding him close, and leaned her leg on his thigh, while Steven stroked her hair gently Staring at her peaceful face as she looked at the night sky.

The night was silent except for the sounds of cricket and their own breathing.

[greekbros]

"greek-Bros: The Return of an Old Enemy"

Chapter 10: Two Sides to Show Business

Apollo confronted Ares, who was training out near his competitors tent. From what he had heard, Ares was doing his usual bit making sure he isn't a force to trifle with. "Ares, I would like to have a word with you before the joust. It's rather important.", Apollo greeted himself.

As if he was completely ignoring Apollo, Ares continued to strike the tree. To Ares, there was nothing Apollo could say that would interest him. "Yeah, what is it.", he gruffly responded. With a final strike, he cuts the tree in half with no hesitation. He turns around to turn to Apollo, "If that sniveling fat fuck Dionysus sent you hear, let him know that all of this-", he raises his hand to show the wide expense that is Delphi, "-is going to be the birth place of my own army.", Ares boasted.

Apollo looked at Ares completely dumbfounded, he saw Ares simply stood there with a grimace on his face, there didn't seem to be anything else in his mind. "Ares....I ask you to maybe.... you and Dionysus should just joust for the sport of it. I mean, is there even a purpose to you or him gaining any of each other's assets?", he politely asked, "I mean.... seriously why are you doing this, what would be the point of doing this to your own brother?". It wasn't uncommon for Ares to be meanspirited but in this situation it seemed there could be a different motivation. Why would Ares agree to do something he didn't want to do, just to make it harder for everyone. A stupid question indeed but there had to be something.

Ares turned to Apollo, "ugh.... didn't you hear me? I'm going to make all this land into a training field....", he stood there letting the cogs in his brain turn a little bit and remembered a small detail he so adamantly told Dionysus, "...OH you mean his girl? Nah, I wasn't going to do shit to her. I just told him that to see if he was serious about this stupid joust.", he chuckled as if it was all just a joke, a joke that if it was pulled on him with Aphrodite....he would have carved a hole in the middle of Mediterranean Sea with rage. The reality was that Ares wasn't interested in Ariadne in the slightest, the whole plan was to simply take Dionysus's land and scare him. "Why, what's it got to do with you?", he asked with a straight face.

Of all the terrible and cruel things Ares had committed, this could probably top them all. Apollo at this point didn't know if he should joust Ares himself or to smite him where he stood. However, he knew Hermes was already sabotaging Ares, no use in ruining the plan at this stage. Hiding his anger behind a false smile, "Oh....well...I was just worried about the whole thing.....that's all, personally I've never known Dionysus to be serious about anything but I guess I'm mistaken.....good luck at the joust....just please...don't make it worse.", Apollo quickly left Ares to the rest of his 'training'. He couldn't wait to contribute to humiliating Ares for basically ruining what was supposed to harmless fun for Dionysus.

Ares just shrugged, thought it was Apollo being his dramatic self and figured it could have been time for the joust. He didn't need to put any armor, mostly because he already wore armor all the time. He figured he'd raise the stakes to make things entertaining to him, maybe he could see how sharp the lances were or see how far he could if he could put oil on the handles. He went to find the lances to inspect them at the temporary stables. Ares took one look at the lances and saw that the tips of the lances had brightly colored cushions on them, one red cushion and one green cushion. "What the hell is this?!", he shouted. He poked one of the cushions and his finger was dyed red with fresh paint.

A young satyr came, trembling a little knowing the god of war what're answers. "Ugh, those are the l-lances oh great one. If one of the players gets hit with tip of the lance, they lose aananand you see it's to make sure ugh...no body gets hurt", the young satyr replied.

Ares glared at the satyr, he was completely undignified at such a soft centered idea. This whole arrangement meant that no one would get hurt, no one would shed blood or anything. "As expected from Dionysus.....shame, I was planning on giving him a taste of "fair play",.....where are my horses?", he asked sternly.

The young satyr's usually blushing, flushed face turned pale, he had recently checked on Ares's chariot horses. "Ugh...well...um... please understand that I had NOTHING to do with.", he sheepishly warned Ares.

His ears perked up, "WHAT?", Ares boomed. The satyr lead him to his chariot horses towards the end of the stable. The horses were plastered, lounging and drunkenly lapping up what ever whine was left on the ground. Ares gawked at his once mighty nightmares....now a trio of drunken dead weights. He turned slowly to the satyr, his face was glowing red with fury. "....did...you feed...MY war horses...your SHITTY WINE?!?", he roared. He had just about enough of this clown circus that was Delphi.

From out side of tent, Ares's wrath could be heard along with the pleads of that satyr, two gaurds ran in to break up the fight between them and left their post. In the vary moment the gaurds left their post, a curious wolf pup, whom have been sneaking around looking for snacks this whole time, was now currently scampering just past the tent, completely ignoring the fight inside the temporary stable. He sniffed the air, smelling the new unfamiliar sents just itching to be discovered. His nose lead him to the food tent, where he could smell bread, sweet fruits and the bittersweet sent of wine. He didn't hear anyone inside, nor did he smell anyone, it was the perfect chance to find food.

The pup lifted the tent's fold, as he crawled under the tent his claws accidentally cought on to a table cloth as he was reaching out to see in the dim light of the tent, causing some bottles to topple down and decorative clothes to fall on him. The little lycan's eyes weren't so use to the light shift from day to night. He was draped in a large table cloth, covering his head, shoulders and good portion of his body. He didn't mind it at all, the soft, silky cloth felt pleasant to his paws, so wear it he did, pretending to be his 'noble king's for a few seconds much like any like-minded toddler would. He took a long whiff of the air and smelled the tasty treats that were stored in this treasure trove. Searching around and near the table, he found several fruits, roasted meats, dates and loaves of bread rolls. His little pup heart couldn't contain it, he jumped onto the table and attacked a roll of bread and began chewing on it. Never in his life did he ever taste something so delicious, his whole life he had only eaten moldy bread and scraps of rotting flesh. His eyes floated to some roasted goat, just as fast as he went after the bread he jumped on to the goat meat. Fresh, seasoned, cooked meat was truly something worth howling about, he let out a small, somewhat gentle, inexperienced howl that sounded like a little trill rather than a hardy wolf howl, with every bite he would let out a short burst of happiness.

Outside the tent, Dionysus was in full ornate armor. He was fussing around with some of the straps on his arms when he heard one of the little lycan's short trills. He stopped in his tract to catch the sound again, but nothing happened. "Oh man, that better be one of the nymphs experimenting again, I can't take this anxiety anymore!", he loudly worried to himself. He took a deep breath and went off to find his chariot at the stable tent. He walked in to see Ares tied up to the support beam, foaming in the mouth, and very disheveled satyr and two of the gaurds tired from holding Ares back. "....sooooo.....uhm...I'm just here to pick up...my lance....", he awkwardly shuffled to his lance, takes it, turns to Ares, "see you there man...oh ugh...since well....I'm using mules... you'll have to use mules too....bye.", he quickly leaves the tent before Ares would blow his stack.

Ares, with foam in the corner of his mouth, growled loudly. "DAMN YOU DIONYSUS!", he roared in frustration. So loudly infact, the lycan pup heard it from his tent. The poor thing stopped knawing on the goat bones, perked up his ears thinking it was an adult lycan. He paused for a few seconds, he than promptly went back to knawing on the bone because a pup his age has other priorities, like chewing on some goat bones and eat bread.

With a sigh of defeat, Ares simmered down, and looked to one of the gaurds, "if one of you doesn't untie me right now and get me your most killer mules....I will rip BOTH your balls off.", he stared at the guards and the guards stared back. The gaurds both scrambled to their tasks and prepared Ares's chariot. The joust, was about to begin, finally.

End of Chapter 10

[yhs-silly]

Kneel

They were on their way home from school, Sam and Taurtis were just messing around and swinging off the lampposts, the usual. Grian seemed a little grumpier then usual, maybe he'd gotten a low grade on his test, he wouldn't say. But he was adamant that they had to get home as soon as possible, so when Sam and Taurtis started doing their checking both ways gag he was ready to snap.

He groaned and pushed them aside. "You guys are idiots! There are never any cars on this road!" He rolled his eyes and stormed into the middle of the road and stood there with his arms out, glaring at the duo. "See! There's nothing here! I'm perfectly sa-afe..."

He trailed off at the sound of a car horn, turning to face the speeding car, his face falling in horror.

Sam's hands tightened around Taurtis's arms, Taurtis hadn't even realised he'd moved to rush into the road. He just went still and just stared, with wide, tear filled eyes as the car came closer and closer.

Grian was right, there were never any cars on the road. It was very rare that a car came down the road, and if it did, it was usually at night- and always speeding. That was the unwritten rule; speed past the school zone, with luck you might hit one nof the crazy kids. The other towns around were never fond of the academi students, not used to such diversity, neurologically or otherwise.

Ironically, it was most likely the least mad of the students being hit, all the others looking on, glad it wasn't them. The acidemi students were never known for their empathy, only a few students really cared for the Brit. Those that did care already had tears welling in their eyes at the sound of flesh against metal and the grinding of the breaks as the car came to a halt.

The guy driving the car didn't even get out, he just sat there in a state of shock as Taurtis and Sam raced over to Grians side. Taurtis had tears spilling freely down his cheeks and even Sam was panicking, Sam gently lifted Grian off of the floor and checked his vitals. He was still alive, but struggling.

Okami had seen the whole thing go down and had called and ambulance as soon as she'd heard the car, it didn't take long for it to turn him. Sam threatened the emergency response team to let him and Taurtis ride with Grian in the back.

They were so worried, Taurtis had begun sobbing uncontrollably, this was just like before, just like with...

Salex.

Why did everyone he love have to die? Why was it always a car? He pauses, did he love Grian? As a friend of course, he's one of his best friends... he's still hung up on Salex...he hoped and prayed beyond his belief that Grian would not follow her. He couldn't loose someone else so close to him, he wouldn't know what to do.

Sam wasn't as affected but he was still terrified of loosing Grian, he'd never really dealt with a death close to him since his mother passed. He watched as Taurtis fell to his knees, sobbing. He felt so awful, if it wasn't for his and taurtis's insisting that the road wasn't safe, then Grian would be safe. For once Sam didn't feel pleased with being proved right, he wished he was wrong. For once he wished it had been Grian who was right, he could just see Grian's triumphant smirk, the sparkle in his eyes at the idea of being right.

Sam had noticed how much Grian reacted to a little bit of positive reinforcement, he'd used it to get his way before, but now all he wanted to do was tell Grian just how highly Sam valued him. Grian deserved to glow like he always did when praised, Sam was just scared he'd never get the chance.

After a while Grian got better, he still hasn't spoken but the doctors had said he was free to leave. One their way home, Sam and Taurtis had done nothing but pamper and adore him. It was the least they could do for him, but something was off with Grian, his behaviour wasn't normal.

Taurtis was worried about him, he hadn't said a word to either of them since he'd gotten out of the hospital. Sam wasn't as worried, but it was clear he was concerned by how little he'd been mocking Grian lately. But neither of them seemed to be getting through to him.

He's been taking naps lately, it was almost all he did. He never did any of his work and Okami was on the brink of pulling him aside for a quiet word. Everyone was growing increasingly worried about him, they figured he had gained some sort of brain damage.

This all culminated in that one night, Taurtis had stayed up late gaming. Sam was asleep and Grian was probably also sleeping, or so Taurtis thought. He'd turned his head at the sound of footsteps to see Grian standing there, clutching the mop like a staff. He glared intently at Taurtis, a strange fire behind his eyes that made Taurtis shudder.

"Taurtis." Grian's voice was rougher, darker then his usually was. Even his posture seemed heavier, he held himself in a higher sense of pride and power then the anxious, drawn back Grian that Taurtis knew and loved. "Remove yourself from the magic mirror, I require your counsel."

Taurtis was slightly confused, but he'd played enough fantasy games to understand what Grian meant. He switched the tv and game crab off, concerned as to how Grian seemed.to have forgotten what a tv was. He shifted to the side and patted the sofa next to him, with a gentle smile. "Ok Grian, what do you need buddy." He was really happy that Grian was finally speaking again, although those subtle changes did worry him.

Grian didn't sit down however, he continued to stand and just stare at Taurtis expectantly. "Well?" He began to tap his foot. "Stand."

Taurtis was surprised but did so without thinking, watching in confusion as Grian nodded in approval and moved to take his seat. Grians posture while sitting was also more confident Taurtis noticed, how hadn't he noticed before? He goes to sit down but Grian raises his hand to stop him.

"No, kneel." Grian spoke with a command, more adept at control then Sam. But Taurtis wasn't just going to obey, he just frowned at Grian in concern. Then his eyes widened at Grian put the mop to his shoulder and forced him down, Taurtis would've been impressed by Grian's control on the mop if he wasn't currently being forced onto his knees. He stares up at Grian in concern as the blonde nods in approval.

"Grian..? What the hell..?"

Grian raised his eyebrows a little at that, smiling gentle. "Oh? Is something the matter Taurtis? I must admit, I am also a little thrown off by our predicament but it is alright, you have your king to guide you."

Taurtis frowned deeply, king? Grian wasn't a king? He now had concerns about Grian's sanity, he had to play this carefully. He just quietly nods, smiling up at him gently. "No, nothings the matter Grian. You said you wanted to talk about something?"

Grian smiled back and nodded. "Ah yes, it was actually about this predicament... I'm unsure as to what happened but these clothes aren't mine? And I've never seen such powerful magic then there is here, it rivals even the likes of me... that's another thing. I've found myself unable to perform spells recently, I attempted to harness the power of this strange looking staff but it doesn't seem to like me."

Taurtis just nodded. "Alright...well what do you want to do?"

"I wish to return home, is that not obvious?" Grian scoffed. "My kingdom needs their king."

Taurtis nods and slowly and cautiously gets to his feet. "Okay...so I think the best thing to do right now is go back to bed and figure out what to do in the morning."

Grian nods and stands. "That does seem like the ideal plan, I trust you to gaurd my chambers?"

Taurtis just nodded in response, watching Grian head back upstairs. His knees where shaking, he sat on the sofa, feeling horrible.

Tears bunched in his eyes as he thought about how his poor sweet friend had completely lost his mind, Grian was supposed to be the responsible one! Now he seemed to believe he was some magical fantasy king... Poor guy was always a nerd, Taurtis figured that he must've latched on to a favourite fantasy story as a coping mechanism after the accident.

He felt so bad for poor Grian, he didn't ask for this, the poor guy didn't even understand what was going on. He felt the hot tears run down his face and looked down at his shaking hands, he realised that he had to tell Sam, he had to.

He slowly got to his feet and crept upstairs silently, knocking gently on Sam's door. "Sam? Sam wake up."

Sam eventually came to the door, looking sleepy. "Taurtis..? What's wrong?" He was surprised to see how worried Taurtis looked, he instantly also began to get worried.

"It's Grian." Taurtis spoke quietly, as if he was afraid of disturbing said blonde. He speaks slowly and carefully. "He's gone mad...he thinks he's some sort of wizard king..." He sniffles and wipes some tears away. "I'm just so worried about him..."

Sam felt his heart pang, he didn't know this feeling, it was almost guilt, almost responsibility, but it was neither- and it certainly wasn't pity, Sam knew what it was like to be the mad one. Only thing is, Sam was never really mad, just not normal. He nodded slowly, brain working harder then it ever did before at this time of night, heart hammering in his chest just like that day. "Alright...so what do we do?"

They made eye contact, the best thing to do would be to call the authorities, tell a teacher, get him to the hospital, to do something. But they both knew they couldn't do that, they didn't have the heart. Taurtis slowly began to speak. "Well...his delusions aren't tha-"

Sam put his hand up to stop him. "No, we can't go along with his delusions, that wouldn't be fair on him." He sighs and hums in thought "Is there really anything we can do..? I think he might be fucked."

"Don't say that!" Taurtis squeaked, quickly lowering his volume quickly. "We have to do something, we can't just leave him to his delusions." He was getting choked up again, Grian might not have died, but Taurtis still felt that he'd lost him.

They barely slept that night, simply discussing what they could do. They didn't really come up with anything that hadn't been said before, but eventually they decided they'd treat his delusions like how a parent treats a child's fantasies, playing along to a certain point.

And so they did, they managed this for around a week, but unfortunately people began to notice that Grian was behaving strangely. Eventually, Okami pulled the trio aside to talk to them.

Sam was glancing around and making sure there were exits, Taurtis was wringing his hands and glancing at Grian every five seconds. Grian himself had his arms crossed and was glaring daggers at Okami for being so rude.

Okami sighed softly and smiles at the boys. "Now, I'm sure you know what's going on. But none of us do, so could you please explain why Grian is behaving like that."

Grian scoffed and begun to speak, before Taurtis gently shut him down and spoke instead. "We're sorry Sensei, he's just a little banged up from the accident still..." He shrugs and smiles awkwardly.

Sam glances at him nervously, Okami frowns and then Grian speaks up. "What accident? I am not 'banged' up? Taurtis what are you talking about?"

There are gasps from both boys as Taurtis glances at grian nervously and Sam quietly hisses. "Grian, shh!"

Grian glares. "Don't you tell me to shh!" He stomps up to Sam and gets real close, getting up on his tippy toes trying to look intimidating.

Okami sighs and looked concerned. "Grian, sweetie, what do you mean 'what incident?'? Do you not remember what happened?"

Grian looked at her in confusion, his face a mixture of confusion and annoyance. He goes to speak when Taurtis steps in and clears his throat.

"Sensei? We're so sorry for trying to hide this...but he's gone mad."

"I am not mad! How dare you!"

Okami pauses and looks at Grian, seemingly looking for something, but whatever she was looking for, she didn't find it. She sighed and gently put her hand on Grian's shoulder. "Grian, sweetie? Can you calm down for me? Try and explain what you think is going on."

Grian began to speak, about a magical kingdom he rules over and how Sam and Taurtis were loyal to him. Okami turned to the boys and mouthed at them to go and fetch Rowan.

Taurtis's heart was hammering in his chest, that was so impulsive of him, but at least Grian was going to get the help he needs. He looks at Sam, seeing the obvious pain his friend was trying to hide, he sighed. He never expected to have to be the normal one, it was too much pressure for him. But if that was what it took to keep his best friends safe and happy, then that's what he would be.

It was Taurtis who explained the situation to Rowan.

It was Taurtis who comforted Sam as Grian was taken away.

It was Taurtis who knelt besides the bed that night, and for the first time in all his life.

Taurtis prayed.

[omega-queen-collects-lipstick]

Maybe reverse situation? Like big boys and bitty reader?

Hmmmmmmm. . . I may have the perfect situation.

Mc is a bitty working as a therapists assistant. She is very special needs however because of her energy deficiency. Almost like anemia but it's magic.

She and the staff run a live in facility for bitty and monster therapy recovery. She herself is a patient turned employee because of her ability to read emotions. You can't lie to her because she'll know.

Doctor rosen is her partner in this and they often host group therapy together. It's not until a particular incedent that mc meets the boys.

Well all except for quicksilver. He's her personal doctor and often let's her stay over in his apartment in the employee wing when rosen goes on special business trips. To which he either spoils the fuck out of her or is a prickly pear of a mother helicopter. He absolutely adores her and has his whole apartment set up for her comfort.

She was his and still is his favorite patient. She even trusted him enough to tell him her story. Not even rosen knows what happened before she was admitted her. Just him and Mc herself.

As for the incedent in question. . . It was a group therapy session for four former convicts. A gang boss, an arsonist, and two prostitutes. Technically it was just supposed to be Dr Rosen in the room. But then there was yelling and a crash then more.

Mc dashed inside the room to save her best friend with a "stop it right this instant!" Such a cute tiny yet brave little thing. It caught everyone's attention. Mc told them to pick up their mess and they did. Mc tells them to sit and behave they do it.

They can't imagine making this cute creature upset again

Of course none of them would take on another session unless she led the session. And that's how THAT started.

Erik is a gang boss by blood. He felt pressured into it by his heritage. As hardened and as high of LV he has he likes cute things. (I think every AU he does) He comes off as scary and mean to most but Mc can sense his padlocked soul. His reason for therapy is he couldn't take being in his line of work anymore and saught help. Currently he's selling out all his business and the FBI monster division is currently in the process of taking his death. The are many 'gaster type' monsters. They just have to switch his ID number with a faster type that recently dusted. The therapy is just until he's recovered enough to function. He adores Mc because she knows what he's feeling at any given moment and she let's him pick out 'the outfit of the day' for her. It's therapeutic for him. Especially when Mc picks out an accessory for him.

If anyone comments on MCs outfit or the occasional ribbon on his horns he has no shame about it and puffs up his chest.

Now if someone makes fun of of it there's gonna be a fight. No cap. He is selectively mute and doesn't speak often. So mc is invaluable in her ability to read his emotions. Especially when he comes up to her with a beaten up person or monsters and says "oopsies."

Kinda slow in the head but he knows the business. He's also boss at crochet and knitting. He can look at a complexly knitted sweater and copy it easily. However if you give him written instructions he won't understand it at all.

Hotaru is an arsonist. Not just because he's a fire monster. No. There's just something about watching the world burn that's just so intoxicating.

Clearly he didn't have the best child hood. And he acts much like a destructive child just far more dangerous.

Gaurds escort him to and from his room with high pressure water guns.

He was the one who started the incedent. He's entirely racist and didn't want to be helped by a weak ass human who assumes she knows him and how his mind works.

Mc however... When she came in he was shocked. Here he was ready to burn the whole place down and this little bitty comes in fearless even tho none of the gaurds are conscious and loudly as she can demands everyone stop what their doing.

He wants to know more. Your story. Your like. Dislikes. How you work. Hobbies. Do you like fire? Do you like cats? Him specifically.

Mc takes none of his bullshit and he loves it. Just watching mc get all angry and demanding is so cute. He can't help but listen because your cute satisfied smile is so much cuter.

Your so tiny and he will make it obvious constantly. He'll carry you. Pet you on your head with a finger. Baby talk you until you use your magic which is like squid ink.

On a less asshole like note he always goes to mc when hes in a vulnerable mindset. She's easy to talk to and she doesn't judge. Even when he talks of his obsession with violent devastating fires. She just gets it. Gets him. Gets on his level. Rhetorically of course. She's barely six inches tall.

Sweets is of course a prostitute trying to get away from his pimp. He's not 'pretty enough' anymore. It was only a matter of time before he became useless and took a dust nap if you catch his drift. Yeah his pimp isn't very nice.

But since he sought help in the facility once he gave up all the info they needed to bag the guy he's been getting some serious help.

Until the help stopped helping. The boy suffers from severe depression and his self confidence is abysmal. They thought group therapy would fix it.

It didn't work. At least not until he got transferred to a new group and the pyro head started that fight. Then mc such a tiny thing demanded everyone stop.

Such confidence and poise. He wants that. Or at least he thinks it would be more reasonable to serve that. Mc is so perfect. So pretty. He only hopes his horrible visage doesn't make her repulsed.

Mc often encourages him to be braver. Simple excercises. Speech work. Body confidence. Inner confidence. So much work mc has to do for even just a smidgen of self confidence in sweets. But it's always dashed so quickly.

However with Mc, she always makes sweets feel pretty. Admired. With her around he has a lot more confidence. He feels like he's worth something more than a hole to stick a dick in.

He loves it when mc asks his opinion on the cute little outfits Eric picks out. They're always flawless in his opinion by the way. In a way Erik and sweets help eachother with Mc in between.

Now eros, woo boi. He's a compulsive lier. Bad. Cleptomaniac to. He constantly has to be searched. Of course that's not why he's here. He's here because he was a pimpless prostitute that got caught in a fight with a well known pimp. The pump had been trying to force him to work under him and eros our beloved snek boi doesn't work under anybody.

He played witness to get the man put away so instead of doing time he'd get sent to the facility.

As if he'd ever let himself ACTUALLY be reformed.

Mc is onto him immediately and it shocks him. Legitimately he is shocked. He's a flawless lier and no one's ever been able to catch him. They can only speculate. Not only that mc knows when he's about to steal before even HE knows it. Even when he DOESNT know he's gonna do it.

At first he thought it was because mc was a lier to. Or a thief to. But she never lies. Never steals. He knows because he's watched her for hours and hours on end.

He's never had a gentle touch and he's scared when mc reaches to do so. Attachment is dangerous and fickle. He's so course and aloof to you even when he's joking and being playful.

But then mc catches him gouging a shiv he made into his bones...

He fully expected your judgement and pity but instead she showed him hers. She never told him where she got hers and she never asked why he felt the need to hurt himself.

Instead you placed your fragile teeny tiny hands on his and started crying. Crying for him. For yourself. He dropped the shiv and in a moment of weakness he cried to.

After that he started actually trying. He kind of adopted sweets as a baby bro. He likes to help mc give Erik and sweets makeovers.

He unlocks mischievous Mc. He's the only one who can get her to play harmless pranks and make cute little jokes.

With all this going on and the boys growing closer, by the time the program regimen ends for them they actually decide to keep receiving help. And they partake in the program where they can work in the facility so their never to far from their precious mc.

[razorblade180]

Shackles pt7: Trap

“Finally, we’re here...” Blake said as she stood in front of Jacquelyn’s house. Nothing suspicious so far, but that could change quickly. Who knows what the clay carved house held inside. At least it beautiful

She was ready to proceed but looked back to see Yang and Jacquelyn on the opposite sides of the oasis. Yang was washing up her pale face while Jacquelyn drunk water from another. Both of them looked better than when they woke up but still not like their normal selves; especially Yang. The closer Blake walked to her the more she thought about the possibility that Yang just might be pregnant. ‘There’s no way she’s actually...well...it’ll explain some things. Still, why wouldn’t sh-’

Her train of thought was cut off suddenly by pressure building around her ankle. Blake looked down to see Yang looking at her with a concerned expression before pointing in front of them to the water. Blake had gotten so wrapped in her own mind that she didn’t realize how far she’d walk.

Yang:Uhhh going for a swim? Hehe I thought cats were supposed to hate water?

Blake:......

Yang:...I know that wasn’t exactly my best material but-

Blake:Are you pregnant?

Yang:*eyes widened* What? W...what would give you that ide-

Blake:Yang you’ve been pale, tired, sweaty, and irritable. This situation is stressful I know but you handle pressure like a diamond so this shouldn’t be getting to you so easily. Also you look like you wanna vomit since you woke up. Please don’t lie to me.

Yang:...Sigh, this isn’t how I expected you to find out.

Blake:Why didn’t you tell me sooner!?

Yang:I tried to but in case you haven’t noticed, shit keeps popping up! I wasn’t expecting to trek across the desert to investigate the disappearance of a supposed to be terr....terr...

Blake:Yang? Hey are you okay?

Yang:Nausea.....also... ugh, haven’t eaten. B-But....*covering mouth*

Blake bends down and holds her partner’s hair back. Yang bent over and felt bile slowly creep up her throat before managing to hold it down. She quickly reached for her bag and pulled out a pill bottle and took a capsule with some water. Her face scrunched up from the taste but it was an improvement from what she was about to experience seconds ago. She put the bottle back and pulled out packs of crackers and granola.

Blake:The duffle bag is for your pregnancy? I thought you had huntress gear in it or something.

Yang:There’s bullets and gear in it. Also everything I needed to have a comfortable trip that my doctor told me to bring....

Blake:How far are you along?

Yang:Almost three months. Believe it or not but I went an entire month not realizing I had a bun in the oven.

Blake:W-Wow you are not showing in the slightest.

Yang:Give it another month or so. Mom said I’ll blow up like a balloon. The point of this whole trip wasn’t only to reconnect but give you the big news. Figured it was the perfect excuse to reach out and all. Not having you in my life during this whole process didn’t feel right ya know?

Blake:That’s really sweet and all but you still should’ve told me this before I let you come along for this.

Yang:Then you would’ve tried to talk me out of tagging along. I tried to stop this adventure before it even started remember? I wasn’t about to guilt trip you with this though.

Blake:It’s not guilt tripping it’s allowing me to see everything that’s at stake; and of course I would try to talk you out of it. Taking a boat to Menagerie had risks in it of itself. I’m surprised Jaune or Ruby let you out of their sight.

Yang:Yeah....well....it might be because they don’t know....since I wanted to break the knews to my best friend first? *shrugs*

Blake says nothing to that. She only registers the statement then says it in her head. No, there’s no way Yang just said. There is no way that she’s currently in the desert with two secretly pregnant women. The hard part about this adventure was supposed to be finding Adam. Not this!

Yang continued to eat as she watched Blake’s facial expression constantly shift at this new information. It was a little hard to watch. Before she could speak more on the matter, Blake took her hand and started walking towards Jacquelyn who was still cleaning up.

The maiden only had the chance to raise her head before she too was pulled to her feet. Blake continued walking until they both were in front of the house.

Jacquelyn:Woah, what’s going on?

Blake:From here on out I’m officially taking point on this. I decide how we’ll proceed, be the first to engage in combat, and anything else serious; we clear.

Yang:That’s a bit extreme.

Jacquelyn:Yeah I can still-

Blake:Am I clear!?

......

The two women looked at each other then back at Blake with a nod. Not realizing both of them were agreeing to this formation for the exact same reason.

Blake:Good, you two can keep resting. I’m going inside the house.

Jacquelyn:I’m coming too. Last thing I need is to be accused of something because you got hurt inside

Yang:Yeah that doesn’t give me confidence. I’m definitely going in too.

Blake:What did I just-sigh, fine. Just stay behind me.

Irritated, Blake ignored the doorknob and simply kicked it open. A piece of her wanted something to be in here. Shooting a thing sounded nice right now. The interior was bigger than it looked outside. A decent sized living room welcomed them that had a hallway in the bag. The door on the left was creaked open while the one further down on the right was shut.

Yang:Not much for decorating huh?

Jacquelyn:It’s hard enough getting fresh produce out here. The market is far and being a maiden doesn’t automatically give you the greenest thumb.

Blake:What’s the two rooms back there?

Jacquelyn:Open door is Adam’s room. Closed door is mine.

Yang:You don’t sleep together?

That question didn’t receive an answer. Not verbally anyways. Just pouting and a red face that screamed “it’s complicated.” Jacquelyn walked over to a wall to the left, applying pressure to a spot near the middle. That section flipped around to reveal a chest with lien and other supplies.

Blake:Of course there’s hidden compartments.

Yang:You’re not selling me on believing this isn’t a trap.

Jacquelyn:This is why I think something is wrong. If Adam abandoned me then why not take all of this? It would have been easy. Yet he only took a third at best. It doesn’t make any sense.

Yang:Neither does he.

Blake:Yang, not helping.

Yang:Just saying. You sure you checked every inch of this place? There’s no hidden tunnel that leads to Atlas or anything crazy like that.

Jacquelyn:We wouldn’t be living in a desert if magic could do all that, and no, I’m not sure. I was....frantic last time I was here.

Blake:Then I guess we’re searching top to bottom. Maybe-

The sound of her scroll vibrating made her jump. Blake opened it up to see a banana icon bouncing up and down. It wasn’t uncommon for Sun to give her a good morning call, or to see if she actually went to bed. Something she wished she had for once. Maybe she should tell him about her current situation, but that might cause a few problems. It did with Yang in more ways then once. Nevertheless, Blake answered.

Blake:Hey Sun, morning. Listen I can’t really talk right n- what do you mean Ilia was almost abducted?

Jacquelyn whipped her around and looked at Yang before looking at Blake.

Yang:Ilia was almost what?

Jacquelyn:Speakerphone, now.

xxxx

Sun sat on a beanbag in his teams little gathering spot, filled with trinkets of various things. It was essentially a thieves den if they were being honest. Ilia sat across from him, lightly resting from her experience.

Sun:Five guys randomly crowded Ilia. Apparently they called her White Fang trash then tried to take her somewhere. These dudes were armed fairly well. Luckily me and Neptune caught them off gaurd. Sage and Scarlet got involved too. One escaped though, a guy named Trigger. The other four are tied up in our den but they aren’t being too chatty.

Blake:Where’s Ilia right now?

Sun:In front of me. Wanna talk to her?

Blake:Are you too the only people in the room right now? If not then I need you both to be.

Ilia:*stretching* We’re alone! I’m fine if that’s what your concern is. You sound more on edge than I do, and that’s saying something.

Blake:Guys...there’s something I need to tell you both. Something I should’ve done for some time now. Adam is....

xxxx

Blake told them everything. Adam, Jacquelyn, where they’ve been, their encounters; everything. That includes what she doing right now. The only thing she didn’t mention was her two partners in this adventure being pregnant. The group had switch from voice call to holographic video, the sight of Ilia leaning against the wall with her hands on top of her head made Blake uneasy. Sun held a neutral expression. Yang could tell he was working through all info he was just given. He seemed to be doing it well.

Sun:So, these things might be connected?

Blake:I’m not really sure.

Jacquelyn:They have to be, I’m sure.

Ilia:Even if they’re not, you should’ve told us, Blake. You should’ve told me!

Blake:Ilia I-

Ilia:Adam was apart of my life too. Longer then yours even. I gave that man a grave on Menagerie out of respect because no one else would. How could you let me do a thing like that when you knew he was alive.

Blake:I didn’t know how you would react.

Ilia:And that makes it okay!?

Her words made Blake flinch. Sun put his hand on Ilia’s shoulder to calm the girl. Ilia looked at him then looked at the guilty expression all over Blake’s frown. Ilia knew the her friend had reasons for not telling the people closest to her about such a secret. That didn’t ease the frustration, it just made Ilia sad and anxious. She knew how to remedy that. She went over to her weapon to take it into the next room.

Sun:What are you doing?

Ilia:If anything is connected then those four we have will know something about it. I’m gonna see if they do.

Blake:Ilia, you can’t just-

Ilia:For all we know we’re on borrowed time and I’m not about to feel sympathy for a bunch of thugs who attacked me. Trust me when I say I’m not gonna lose any over this.

Yang:So that’s it? Torture is okay now?

Ilia:Focus on the things you actually have control of over on your side of the screen.

Yang bit her lip before walking off. Blake knew that she wasn’t gonna fair any better in changing Ilia’s mind. She simply nodded while Jacquelyn looked at the chameleon faunus and gave a quiet thanks. Adam told Jacquelyn much about her, about the girl’s passion and ability to endure. Now she got a glimpse of it before walking away.

Sun:We’ll check in with you in a little bit. Be safe okay?

Blake:Ummm are we okay? You haven’t said much.

Sun:My love for you isn’t fragile. You had your reasons and I respect that.

Blake:Doesn’t mean I made a good choice.

Sun:True, but I’m not counting it as a wrong one. Right now we gotta keep our focus right?

Blake:*nods* Right, see you soon. Love you.

He gives her a dramatic kiss to the screen in an attempt to make her feel better. Yang can’t help but overhear them and wonder how he could be so calm. Sun hung up and gave Ilia a concerned look of displeasure as she stared at the door.

Sun:Need extra hands?

Ilia:I would never ask you or anyone to do what I’m about to do. Just make sure I’m not interrupted okay? I’ll be okay. Things like this, it’s essentially the same as riding a bike. All I gotta do is find my balance and coast.

Sun:Well I will be out here then. Don’t push yourself, and I’m here to talk if you wanna. This Adam news must be a lot to take in.

Ilia:Thanks Sun, I mean that.

With a deep breath, Ilia walked into the other room. The time for emotions had come to a halt. Right now she needed results. Ilia needed her old self.

xxxx

Jacquelyn:You have good friends.

Blake:I have the best friends. Everyone last one of them, including you.

Jacquelyn:Me? Do you not remember our conversation by the fire?

Blake:I do. Admittedly I am a little jealous of you too. Still, I can’t help but also feel a little...inspired by your results.

Jacquelyn:Oh, well, thank you. *red* I’m touched. Maybe I was a little-

“BOMB!!!!” Yang cried out, several feet inside Jacquelyn’s room. Her words barely registered to the others. All they can see was fiery flames of an expanding explosion coming at them in what had to be a fraction of the second. The humble house in the middle of the desert had faded way. Pure destruction, taking its place.

Part 6

[thiswasinevitableid]

this isn't off any prompt list but hero/villian indruck where they have a meetcute and both desperately try to keep the other from finding out their alter ego as their relationship gets more and more serious while simultaneously trying to keep their rival away from their seemingly innocent love interest for fear of endangering them

Here you go!

“You win this round, Knight,” The Moth hovers, mechanical wings flapping and smile spreading across his face. The blood trickling down his nose doesn’t faze him in the slightest, “But I’m sure we’ll see each other quite soon.”

He flies off before Duck can grab him, leaving the hero standing, arms crossed (and cross in general), his quiet evening at home ruined by The Moth’s need cause trouble at the Governors Ball.

He’d just gotten to a good part in his book too.

------------------------

“Oh goodness, I’m so sorry!”

Duck looks up as he’s wiping coffee from his lap to find a tall, gangly, angular stranger hurriedly tossing down his bag  to help clean up the spill.

“I’m sorry, I get lost in my thoughts sometimes and oh, darn it all.” In his eagerness to help, the taller man splashes coffee onto this white tank top, giving him a belly splotch that matches the one on Ducks green t-shirt. 

“It’s uh, no big deal, ain’t like I was in my Sunday best and, uh, that ain’t a library book.”

“Oh no your book.” The other man lifts the stained paperback, looks at it sadly, “At least let me buy you a replacement.” He’s holding the book to his chest now, clearly hopeful that Duck will let him make amends.

Between the red-brown eyes, the tousled, silver-dyed hair, and the earnest, odd smile, he has an air of disheveled charm that, at his age, Duck ought to be past finding adorable. 

Instead, he smiles back, “Sure thing. Bookstore  two blocks down oughta have copies, and a little cafe to boot. You let me buy you a replacement drink, I’ll let you buy me a new book. Deal?”

The other man nods, hands flapping, “Yes, that sounds wonderful.”

Duck grins, suddenly excited, before noticing he’s a bit sticky.

“Meet me there in an hour so we can both change?”

“It’s a date.”

--------------------------------------

It’s a date? Agh, of all the ways he could have phrased it, why did his blasted, traitorous mouth choose that one?

He stands awkwardly in one corner of the cafe, hands stuffed into the pockets of his pink and yellow cardigan. Was this too flamboyant? He doesn’t even know if the other man is gay. He supposes he could look into the futures to determine the answer to that, but doing so feels rude. 

This is why he turned to supervillainy in the first place; he’s terrible with people. 

He wishes he’d worn his glasses. They’re technically a tool of his trade, but they make him feel safe. 

“Uh, howdy.” 

He glances up, finds the man from before looking at him. Now that he’s not racked with panic trying to clean up a spill, he has a chance to take in just how much his type the man is. Short, but bear like (”a teddy bear” his mind supplies, unhelpfully), with green eyes and charming, unhurried vibe to him. His drawl does remind him of a certain hero who’s always in his way, but he won’t hold that against him. 

“Buy you a coffee?”

“Yes, please. Ah, um, I guess I should introduce myself; I’m Indrid.”

“Duck” he holds out his hand and Indrid takes it, enjoys the warmth and strength in his grip, “Nice to meet you.”

--------------------------------------

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this.” Duck tightens Beacon around The Moth, who tears at the blade with his retractable claws. Duck learned about those the hard way, when the villain extended them during one of their first meetings. The slash broke the skin, something rare for Duck on account of his durability. 

“And you have got to come up with some more creative lines, hero.” The Moth snarls, “you have used that one twice before now. Which is also how many times you have forgotten about this.”  The villain throws himself sideways and down with enough force to yank Duck to his knees and loosen his grip. As his sword clatters to the ground, red powder fills his eyes.

“Gah, jesus, not that shit again.” His eyes sting, and as he pats the ground for Beacon he hears the scrape of metal moving away from him. Beacons hilt disappears into the mist, dragged slowly back by The Moth’s foot. 

Duck looks up at him through watering eyes, trying not to breath in the dust. 

“Well, you got me at your mercy. You gonna start gloatin about your evil plans or some shit?”

A light, sharp laugh, “Why would I waste my time in such a way? Oh no, I shall be making off with my prize. And making sure you don’t follow me.”

He raises his foot, and Ducks vision whites out on one side as he crumples. 

He should be more worried about the villain getting away with the schematics for the ApCorps latest government security features. 

Mostly, he’s worried he’ll have a black eye tomorrow. 

------------------------

“Hel-oh goodness, Duck, your eye.” Indrid opens the door a half second before Duck knocks, then quickly cups his cheeks to take a closer look.

“Looks worse than it is, sugar, don’t worry. And, uh, surprise.” He produces a small bouquet of Irises from he behind his back. Indrid beams, taking them with squeak of delight. 

“They’re lovely, but what’s the occasion?” He’s smiling almost like he knows, almost like he just wants to hear him say it. 

“Know, uh, know I said I wanted to take things slow, but I realized we been datin a month I ain’t given you anythin.”

“You bought me coffee that first time. And we have each bought dinner for the other multiple times.” Indrid takes his hand, drawing him inside.  

“I know but, well, kinda wanted to do somethin a little more special.”

“Any time with you is special.” 

Duck snorts, “Cornball.”

Indrid kisses, “I learned from the best.”

-------------------------------------

“What can I say, I learned from the best.” Indrid grins at The Knight, who is currently hanging upside down in an elegantly simple snare. 

“I got the idea from that unpleasant sword of yours. Keep your enemy tied up nice and tight to keep them out of your OW, ow, alright I should have seen that coming.” His glasses are now cracked from the Knight headbutting him.

“I’m impressed you could manage that upside down.”

“Drop these fuckin chains off me and I’ll show you somethin real impressive.”

Indrid tilts his head, “Tempting, but I have a pressing engagement tomorrow morning. Not to mention I need to get this,” he pats the painting he just lifted from the house of a man with a gold toilet, “somewhere safe. Until we meet again.” He offers a mocking salute, and takes flight.

--------------------------------------------

“Again?” Indrid offers, pressed against warm, sweat-tinged expanse of Duck’s chest, his heart beating in time with the rapid rise and fall of Ducks breathing.

“Nope. Not that the body and mind ain’t willin, but the mind and body also got work tomorrow. Damn that felt good.” He usually tops, but with Indrid he’s found it more variable; some nights, like tonight, the other man fucks him into the bed, or over the nearest table, or however far they get before Duck can’t stand waiting anymore. Other nights, Indrid gets on all fours so Duck can fuck him with the strap, drops to his knees before they make it past the entryway, tugging at Duck’s belt buckle with little whimpers. 

“Mmmm, it was magnificent my love.” Indrid goes stone still in his arms as that last syllable flutters in the air.

Duck brushes strands of pale hair from his forehead, “I love you too, ‘Drid.”

His boyfriend flops down in relief, “oh thank goodness that’s the way it went.”

“As if I could feel any other way about you.”

Indrid mutters something that might be “cornball” into his chest, yawns and nestles closer with whisper of “love my teddy bear.”

“Love you too, sugar.”

Shit.

He’s in love with Indrid. 

Bad things happen to superhero love interests. Very bad things. He can’t bear losing him, but no one beside the other members of the Pine Gaurd know his secret identity. He’s not ready to tell him yet. Soon, but not yet. 

Indrid rolls sleepily onto his side and Duck goes with him, turning into the little spoon in his embrace. God, what if an enemy decides to kidnap him, hurt him, just to get to Duck?

Then again, no villain has singled him out, save for one. 

Which he’ll need to deal with that one as soon as he can. 

-------------------------

“Give up while you still can, Moth!” 

“Not a chance.” Indrid hisses back, clutching the gash on his arm from the sword. What has gotten into the Knight today? Usually he only fights Indrid the amount needed to stop whatever crime he’s busy committing. 

Today he’s trying to destroy him. 

He’s been training, that much is clear, he has new moves that Indrid finds difficult to anticipate in a fight, and a fire in his eyes that heightens Indrid’s guard. 

As he flits out of reach of yet another strike, his goal of thievery long forgotten in favor of not getting chopped in half, he tries to determine the source of the change. What would make him fight harder?

Duck. He’d burn this city to the ground, tear every hero in it to pieces, if Duck were in danger. 

He reaches the edge of the building, but before stepping off to safety he turns.

“You win tonight, Knight. But do give that new lover of yours my regards.”

--------------------------------------------

“Hey, Indrid?”

“Yes?” His boyfriend looks up from his sketches. 

“I was wonderin if, uh, if you’d like to go to a  fancier place than normal? Barclay got me an in at La Lune, thought we could go on Friday. There’s, uh, there’s somethin I wanna talk about.”

“Is is a marriage proposal or breaking up with me?”

“What? No!”

Indrid chuckles, “I am teasing. Mostly.” He bounces his eyebrows and Duck rolls his eyes in response. 

“Thought afterwards, might be nice to go out to the park and stargaze, tell you what I need to in private.”

“That sounds lovely, my love.”

------------------------------

The stars are aligning in Indrid’s favor this week. 

Yesterday, when the Knight tried to corner him on his way out of his lair, he took the gamble of getting close, earning him the reward of landing a deep slash on The Knight’s cheek. One he won’t be able to heal by tonight. Whether he’s in his hero get-up or his civilian clothes, Indrid will be able to spot him. 

And tonight, he has it on good authority that the Knight will be appearing in this block of the city.  The same block on which sits La Lune. Indrid can go to dinner with his boyfriend right after removing the biggest threat to said boyfriend. 

He’s perched on the roof of the restaurant, steering clear of the large skylight. His glasses scan the streets, the windows all around him. 

But this is taking longer than anticipated. He hasn’t looked too far into the futures for the night, since his growing romantic side wants whatever Duck tells him to be a true surprise. 

He pulls out his phone, swipes to his conversation with Duck. Beneath the photo of a Scarlet Tanager Duck sent him from his work at the ranger station he types, running behind, will be there shortly after 7.

He receives back, NP, see you soon sugar with a kissy face. 

The minutes tick by, the spring sun setting inch by inch behind the downtown skyline. At 7:05, he peeks through the skylight, spots Duck. He can’t see his face all the way in the mood lighting of the restaurant, but he knows his gait, his profile. 

At 7:30 there is still no sign of his nemesis. He’s been scanning and staring and searching, looking at his phone only once after it buzzes many times. He has four missed calls and five texts

Duck: ETA? Damn, this place is even fancier than I thought. 

Duck: Everything okay? If you’re close, I can order us some appetizers so you don’t got to wait to eat. 

Duck: Can’t wait to see you.

Duck: Are you still coming? Are you okay? 

Duck: Sugar?

That last one comes as he’s reading the others. He peers down through the skylight, sees Duck stare at his phone for a ten count, gnawing his lip. Then he looks up at the sky, eyes shut, as if weighing a decision. 

Indrid’s heart plummets. 

There’s a gash on Duck’s cheek. 

A gash he put there. 

Every coincidence, every strange incident he’d pushed to side, lost in the happiness of their courtship, floods his mind. 

Suddenly, he knows what Duck was going to tell him. 

With shaking fingers, he types,

So sorry, my battery died at the worst of all times, I borrowed a charger from a good samaritan. I’m nearly there. 

It takes him two and a half minutes to descend the building and change into his evening wear that he stashed nearby. 

At three minutes, he’s walking through the doors, Duck jumping up and hugging him before he even makes the table.

“Sorry for, uh, textin so much, I guess I got a bit nervous. Y’know how shit can get here; can be walkin home and suddenly a supervillain is wreckin shit and you’re collateral.”

“I understand.” He takes his seat, Duck relaxing into the chair opposite him, “in fact, my love, I understand a great deal.”

Indrid reaches into his pocket, producing a pair of red glasses. He slips them on, knowing the other diners will think nothing of it. 

“I look familiar, don’t I?”

Duck stares so long, moving so little, that Indrid fears he sent him into some kind of shock. 

“Get out. Now.” Duck’s tone is level, his eyes glinting with threat. 

“Duck, please, I, I want to explain-”

“Out. I ain’t gonna tangle with you tonight, but I don’t wanna see you ever again.”

Wordlessly, Indrid removes the glasses, and walks into the night.

---------------------------------------------

Indrid is out of ideas. 

For the first week after his confession, he searched the futures religiously for any sign that Duck would come after him, would reveal his apartment to the other heroes. 

It never came. 

He hasn’t stolen anything in two months. 

He sent a single apology letter to Duck, doing his best to explain the situation. Watched the futures narrow down to a single one; Duck reading it, then tearing it up. 

He even sent anonymous notes to the Pine Guard, altering them to several oncoming disasters or the kind of supervillainy that has a body count. 

Wounded pride, a loss of purpose, a wave of self-loathing, and a dozen other complexly unpleasant emotions could form the center of his world. 

But it all comes down to one simple feeling: he misses Duck. Misses his smile, his sense of humor, his strange laugh, the safety he felt by his side, and endless list of things stripped from his life by his own actions. 

Which is why it has come to this.

He sets up the camera, and starts recording.

------------------------------------------------

“Hey, Duck, I think you should see this.”

Duck plods into the main control room, where Ned is fiddling with the video feed while Aubrey waves him to sit by her.

“I swear to fuck if it’s that police chief tryin to recruit us again-”

“Nah, Aubrey and I finally got through to him.” Mama tosses out from the corner where she’s busily whittling a wooden duck. 

The screen flickers blue, and then Duck feels the opposing pulls of revulsion and longing as Indrid’s face appears. His glasses are off, but he’s otherwise in his full villain get-up.

“Hello Duck, and, ah, I assume the rest of the Pine Guard. It is fine with me if you all listen in, but this message is ultimately for him.”

Barclay reaches over Ned to hit pause, “Duck?”

“Y’all can stay.”

The video resumes. 

“I have two messages. The first is an apology; not necessarily for the things I have stolen, but for any genuine harm I caused other people, yourselves included. And I apologize once again, and as many more times as you require, Duck, for not telling you the truth sooner. In my defense, there is no easy way to admit to the man you love that you are a supervillain. All the same, I ought to have been brave enough to try, for your sake.” 

Indrid sits up and Duck leans forward. 

“My second message is that I am retiring from supervillainy. I could say something about a change of view on the world in general, but the truth is that villainy is less interesting without an equal to rival and banter with me. And, well, I am sure I can find other ways to fill my days. Especially if the man I care for is by my side. I should be clear that my retirement is not contingent on you reaching out to me again, Duck. Merely that it is something you may wish to know. Ah, I suppose that is all. This is the Moth, signing off for the last time. I’m sorry again, Duck. I love you.”

“Think it’s a bluff?” Aubrey asks as the screen goes dark.

“No, as one who has mastered the art of insincerity, I do not believe so.” Ned responds, switching on the lights.

Duck, for his part, says nothing.

---------------------------------------------------

Indrid rolls off the bed at the knock, rubbing his eyes as he trudges to the door, too tired to look at the futures. 

“How can I…” 

The sight of Duck Newton on his doorstep elicits so many emotions that he short circuits. 

“Hey.”

“Hello.”

“So, retiring huh?”

“Yes.” He fights the urge to chew his nails. 

“Guess that means you’re free to talk right now?”

“Indeed.” He steps back, allowing Duck to step in and shut the door.

“Great, Because we got a lot to talk about. But, uh, first.”

He cups Indrids cheeks, kissing him so lovingly that the former villain melts against him, gripping the front of his ranger jacket the way a falling man grasps at a cliff. 

“I missed you so much.” He whispers, and before he has time to hate the crack in his voice, Duck is kissing him again, guiding him slowly and surely to the couch, murmuring in between kisses.

“Missed you too, so much, goddamn, couldn’t stop thinkin about you, love you so much ‘Drid, wanna make things right, we’re gonna make ‘em right, I promise.”

Indrid glances at the futures, sees that in all of them they do, in fact, end up having a long, serious conversation, one that ends in even softer kisses and Duck curled around him in his bed. 

But there’s still a few more minutes for him to savor being here, safe and secure, in the arms of his hero. 

[onceuponaloonatic]

MiSatzu Mafia au what would it be like for them being head bosses and raising children?

mina sighed as she looked at her suit. she really needed to change, she was supposed to pick the kids up from school and her current suit was covered in blood. this was supposed to be a diplomatic discussion, but it clearly had not turned out that way. tzuyu was with her, while sana took care of some business back at the office.

“i think i have a change of clothes in my car.” tzuyu explained as she started to clean her gun off.

“wonderful.” mina nodded. “some people really just have to be assholes, don’t they?” mina asked as she looked over the scene. there were about four dead bodies on the floor, all of them men. mina really hadn’t wanted things to escalate to this point, but to be fair she didn’t make the first move.

“we can’t change assholes.” tzuyu shrugged. mina nodded and leaned forward to give tzuyu a kiss before the two of them left, taking their gaurds, who were still waiting outside the door, with them.

“i’ll pick the girls up if you need to take a shower. i know you got a bit more messy.” tzuyu passed mina a change of clothes when they entered her car. the driver started driving away while mina sighed.

“it’s alright. we can get them together if you want. or i could get the triplets and you could get nico. whichever you want.” mina nodded.

“i’ll come with you.” tzuyu nodded, passing mina a towel. “we need to swing by the house anyway.”

“yeah and we probably have time to shower before school let’s out.” mina glances at her rolex sana had gotten her for christmas. “god you know nico will kill us if we are late.”

“she’s quite spoiled.” tzuyu giggled. “sae also doesn’t like it when we are late. i don’t think saya even notices though.”

“your probably right.” mina laughed. “oh and we should call sana and tell her the deal is off.”

“she’ll probably be mad for us letting it escalate so far.” tzuyu commented, grabbing her phone out of her pocket.

“your right. well at least we have a comfortable guest room.”

xx

“ka-san! mama!” saki giggled as she ran to her parents. tzuyu picked up saki and threw the eight year old over her shoulder.

“where are your sisters rascal?” tzuyu asked playfully.

“they are playing kickball! i had to stay after class to help set up our science lab for tomorrow, so they wouldn’t let me play.” saki pouted.

“well that’s mean.” mina stated. “come on we need to get your sisters, we have a meeting later.”

“will auntie dahyun watch us tonight?” saki asked eagerly.

“yup. be good for her.” tzuyu kept saki slung over her shoulder as they ventured further into the school to find saya and sae.

“saya! sae! time to go!” mina called when they found the two. the two girls both looked up and ran to their parents, waving to their friends. sae hugged mina while saya tried to get tzuyu to play with her. tzuyu just nodded and put saya over her other shoulder.

“how was your days girls?” tzuyu asked as they walked back to the car, sae still clinging to mina and the other two still slung over tzuyu’s shoulders, both of them giggling wildly as tzuyu walked.

“it’s was good! i won basketball in gym class today!” saya giggled.

“yeah and we had a science lab today that was super fun!” saki added.

“what about you sae?” mina asked.

“hmm it was good.” sae nodded. “are we getting nico-chan?”

“yup.” mina nodded. “and then we’re going home.”

“mama can i go to your meeting today?” saya asked as they finally got to the car.

“no honey.” tzuyu nodded. “we talk about adult stuff. your too young.”

“but i’m a big girl now! you always say i’m too young!” saya pouted.

“that’s because you always are too young.” tzuyu sighed. “get in the car we have to get your little sister.”

“fine.” saya pouted. “whatever.”

xx

“your late.”

“and your two, so your not allowed to have that kind of tone.” mina rolled her eyes and picked up nico. “let’s go.”

“where mommy?” nico asked as she let mina carry her.

“mommy is finishing up some work.” mina explained. “you can see her later, after dinner.” nico seemed to accept that and started playing with her stuffed animal. the triplets and tzuyu had stayed in the car, mina wanting this to be a quick preschool pick up. she had somewhere to be after all.

xx

when they got home all the kids ran off in different directions. mina and tzuyu both nod before going to get dressed for their meeting. they never took weapons when they picked their kids up, it was always the most exposed they were on a daily basis. but thankfully privacy was taken very seriously in their family, and so only about three other people knew what school the kids went to. and they were all close friends.

when they were ready sana was back, hugging all of the kids before giving them a kiss on the cheek.

“eventful day?” sana asked.

“you don’t even know.” mina sighed.

“well, ready to get it over with?” tzuyu joined the two, sana holding both of their hands.

“let’s do it.”